A  Resolve  of  5ir  Hiomas  Drowne 

"To  take  occasion  of  praqinq 
upon  the  siqht  of  ang  church  that 

I  sec  or  pass  by"  1^, 


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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Presented    by  W<SVr .  VA3  TS  .  &V\  fi'c:A(S\ 


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BV  638  .Y6  1911 
Young  Men's  Christian 

Associations .  International 
The  rural  church  and 


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THE  RURAL  CHURCH 


AND 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT 


The  Rural  Churc 


AND 


DEC  21  1912 


Community  Betterment 


EDITED  BY 
COUNTY  WORK  DEPARTMENT 


NEW  YORK:  ASSOCIATION   PRESS 
1911 


Copyright,  1911  by 

The  International  Committee  of  Young  Men'i 

Christian  Associations 


Association  Press 
124  East  28th  St. 
New  York  City 


MINUTES  OF  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  CONFER- 
ENCE HELD  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE 
COUNTY  WORK  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  INTER- 
NATIONAL COMMITTEE  OF  YOUNG  MEN'S 
CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS  AT  THE  INTER- 
NATIONAL COMMITTEE  BUILDING  IN  NEW 
YORK  CITY,  THURSDAY,  DECEMBER  FIRST,  1910 


THE  RURAL  CHURCH 

In  some  great  day 

The  country  church 

Will  find  its  voice 
And  it  will  say : 

"  I  stand  in  the  fields 
Where   the  wide   earth  yields 

Her  bounties  of  fruit  and  of  grain; 
Where  the  furrows  turn 
Till  the  plowshares  burn 

As  they  circle  again,  again ; 
Where  the  workers  pray 
With  their  tools  all  day 

In  sunshine  and  shadow  and  rain. 

"And  I  bid  them  tell 
Of  the  crops  they  sell 

And  speak  of  the  work  they  have   done; 
I  speed  every  man 
In  his  hope  and  plan 

And  follow  his  day  with  the  sun; 
And  grasses  and  trees, 
The  birds  and  the  bees 

I  know  and  I  feel  every  one. 

"And  out  of  it  all 
As  the  seasons  fall 

I  build  my  great  temple  alway; 
I  point  to  the  skies 
But  my  footstone  lies 

In  commonplace  work  of  the  day; 
For  I  preach  the  worth 
Of  the  native  earth — 

To  love  and  to  work  is  to  pray." 

Liberty  H.  Bailey. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Program          ...... 

9 

List  of  Speakers        ..... 

13 

Introductory     ...... 

17 

Rules 

19 

Opening  Session        ..... 

21 

Discussions : 

The  Teaching  of  Religion  in  the  Country  . 

23 

Country  Church  Finances  and  Administra- 

tion          ...... 

41 

Country   Community  Building 

52 

Cooperation  and  Integration  of  Community 

Institutions         ..... 

64 

The  Function  of  the  Country  Church 

81 

Summaries  of  Discussions  .... 

121 

List   of    Delegates    ..... 

129 

PROGRAM 

Prayer. 

Discussion:  "The  Teaching  of  Religion  in  the 
Country."  Led  by  Warren  H.  Wilson,  Ph.  D., 
superintendent  of  the  Department  of  Church  and 
Country  Life,  Presbyterian  Board,  New  York. 

1.  The  best  center  for  teaching  the  Bible  in  the 
country  community:  Is  it  within  the  church 
or  outside  of  churches? 

2.  What  are  the  best  courses  of  Bible  study  for 
working  farmers? 

3.  Is  the  present  doctrinal  training  obsolete? 

4.  Does  the  philosophy  and  theology  taught  in 
colleges  and  seminaries  unfit  men  for  rural 
service  by  its  individualism  ? 

By  teaching  about  exceptional  instances,  mira- 
cles, wonders,  heroism  and  saints,  instead  of 
teaching  obedience  to  law,  average  cases, 
standards  of  conduct,  typical  men,  practicable, 
economical  and  ethical  levels? 

5.  Is  the  seminary  training  for  rural  pastors 
unsuited  by  its  traditions,  viz.,  a  prayer  for 
rain  in  a  region  watered  by  irrigation  ? 

6.  Does  social  efficiency  suffer  through  the  teach- 
ing of  sectarian  doctrines? 

7.  What  course  of  seminary  training  would  fit 
men  for  rural  service? 

8.  Should  the  seminary  or  the  agricultural  col- 
lege train  men  for  service  in  the  country  ? 


10  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Discussion:  "Country  Church  Finances  and  Ad- 
ministration." Led  by  Prof.  Thomas  Cuming  Hall, 
D.  D.,  professor  of  Christian  Ethics,  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

1.  Has  the  country  minister  a  living  wage? 

2.  How  can  a  living  be  secured  for  him  ? 

3.  Why  do  rural  laymen  manage  so  badly? 

4.  What  use  can  be  made  in  rural  social  service 
of  modern  means  of  communication  and  trans- 
portation ? 

5.  Is  church  federation  made  impossible  by  in- 
vested interests  in  country  church  property? 

6.  Would  the  endowment  of  country  churches 
help? 

Discussion:  "Country  Community  Building." 
Led  by  Prof.  Edwin  L.  Earp,  professor  of  Sociology, 
Drew  Theological  Seminary. 

1.  What  religious  service  is  needed  for  the  non- 
Protestant,  non-evangelical  and  the  un- 
churched ? 

2.  How  shall  immigrants  be  socially  and  polit- 
ically assimilated,  who  are  now  economically 
employed  ? 

3.  Emigrating  families:  for  young  men  and  young 
women  leaving  for  the  city? 

4.  Through  what  measures  can  religious  institu- 
tions improve  the  schools? 

5.  What  effective  measures  can  be  taken  for  good 
roads  ? 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  11 

6.  Public  sanitation. 

7.  How  shall  better  agriculture  be  taught  in  the 
country  community  ? 

8.  What  teaching  as  to  city  life,  if  any,  should  be 
given  in  country  institutions?  How  far  shall 
city  institutions  and  methods  be  imitated? 

9.  How  can  public  libraries  be  provided  in  the 
country  community? 

10.  Can  farmers'  clubs  be  organized  to  promote 
scientific  agriculture? 

11.  How  can  public  recreation  be  used  to  relieve 
the  tedium  and  loneliness  of  country  life?  To 
improve  the  morals  of  the  young  and  of  the 
working  people  and  to  eliminate  the  obscene  and 
the  Impure  from  act  and  thought? 

12.  How  can  community  leadership  be  developed 
In  the  country  ? 

Discussion:  "Cooperation  and  Integration  of 
Country  Community  Institutions."  Led  by  Presi- 
dent Kenyon  L.  Butterfleld,  Massachusetts  Agri- 
cultural College. 

1.  Church  cooperation,  federation,  consolidation: 
Is  it  necessary?  Practicable?  Under  what 
circumstances?  On  what  principles?  What 
can  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  or 
the  seminary  do  to  aid  It? 

2.  Cooperation  of  church  and  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations?  Cooperation  with  the 
grange?     With  the  public  school? 


12  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

3.  Is  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  or 
the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  America  the  agency  for  federating  rural 
churches  and  institutions? 

Discussion:  "The  Function  of  the  Country 
Church."  Led  by  Prof.  G.  Walter  Fiske,  junior 
dean,  Oberlin  Theological  Seminary. 

1.  What  is  the  church's  function  or  business? 

2.  Does  the  crying  need  of  federation  throw  light 
on  the  essential  nature  of  the  church? 

3.  Is  the  country  community  better  served  by  a 
single  church  or  a  plurality  of  churches  ? 

4.  In  harmony  with  its  function  what  can  the 
church  in  the  country  do  to  promote  physical, 
intellectual,  economic  and  social  welfare? 


LIST  OF  SPEAKERS 

Rev.  William  H.  Allison,  Ph.  D.,  dean  and  profes- 
sor of  Ecclesiastical  History,  Colgate  Theological 
Seminary. 

Rev.  W.  L.  Anderson,  author  of  The  Country 
Town. 

Rev.  R.  H.  M.  Augustine,  pastor,  Presbyterian 
Church,  Hanover,  N.  J. 

C.  A.  Barbour,  D.  D.,  secretary.  International  Com- 
mittee Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Kenyon  L.  Butterfield,  LL.  D.,  president,  Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural  College. 

Rev.  Andrew  Campbell,  pastor.  Orthodox  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Christ,  Groveland,  Mass. 

Rev.  W.  Russell  Collins,  D.  D.,  professor  of  Lit- 
urgies and  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  Theological  Semi- 
nary of  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church,  Phila- 
delphia. 

Dwight  C.  Drew,  State  County  Work  secretary  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of 
Massachusetts. 

Edwin  L.  Earp,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  Sociology  and 
director  of  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 

Frederick  E.  Emrich,  D.  D.,  secretary,  Massachu- 
setts Home  Missionary  Society. 

Rev.  Charles  R.  Erdman,  professor  of  Practical 
Theology,   Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

Elmer  O.  Fippin,  professor  of  Soil  Technology, 
New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture,  Cornell 
University. 


14  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Prof.  G.  Walter  Fiske,  junior  dean,  Oberlln  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

Prof.  Owen  H.  Gates,  librarian,  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

Thomas  Cuming  Hall,  D.  D.,  professor  of  Christian 
Ethics,  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

Hon.  Willet  M.  Hays,  assistant  secretary.  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Alvah  S.  Hobart,  D.  D.,  professor.  New  Testament 
Interpretation,  Crozer  Theological  Seminary. 

Arthur  S.  Hoyt,  D.  D.,  professor,  Homiletics  and 
Sociology,  Auburn  Theological  Seminary. 

H.  B.  MacCauley,  D.  D.,  secretary  Eastern  Dis- 
trict Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  America. 

D.  Hunter  McAlpin,  M.  D.,  chairman.  Interna- 
tional County  Work  Committee,  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations. 

Prof.  James  McConaughy,  Mount  Hermon  School. 

William  D.  McRae,  state  county  work  secretary 
of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of  N.  J. 

Rev.  Paul  Martin,  registrar  and  secretary,  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary. 

Prof.  Alexander  R.  Merriam,  Department  of  Homi- 
letics and  Pastoral  Care,  Hartford  Theological 
Seminary. 

Richard  C.  Morse,  general  secretary  of  the  Inter- 
national Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  15 

Rev.  Edward  Tallmadge  Root,  field  secretary  of  the 
Massachusetts  Federation  of  Churches. 

Elias  B.  Sanford,  D.  D.,  corresponding  secretary  of 
the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America. 

Josiah  Strong,  D.  D.,  president,  American  Institute 
of  Social  Service. 

Prof.  Robert  W.  Veach,  dean  of  Bible  Teachers 
Training  School,  New  York. 

Rev.  George  F.  Wells,  research  secretary,  Depart- 
ment of  Christian  Sociology,  Bureau  of  Field 
Work,  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 

Warren  H.  Wilson,  Ph.  D.,  superintendent  of  the 
Department  of  Church  and  Country  Life  of  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  United  States  of  America. 


INTRODUCTORY 

The  Country  Church  Conference  was 
called  by  the  County  or  Rural  Section  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  to  secure 
a  consensus  of  opinion  from  church  leaders 
and  other  authorities  on  country  life  as  to  the 
real  function  of  the  church  in  the  country 
community,  its  relationship  to  other  organi- 
zations and  how  there  can  best  be  established 
a  basis  of  cooperation  between  the  church  and 
its  supplementary  agencies. 

The  program  was  assembled  from  the 
more  than  two  hundred  questions  submitted 
by  the  leading  authorities,  social,  educational, 
economic  and  religious,  on  country  life  in 
North  America,  and  even  after  the  most  rigid 
condensation  was  still  so  comprehensive  as  to 
make  it  necessary  to  treat  many  of  the  topics 
in  a  superficial  manner.  Several  days  could 
have  been  spent  with  profit  in  the  discussion 
of  the  program,  but  unfortunately  only  one 
day  was  available. 

There  were  more  than  one  hundred  dele- 
gates and  visitors,  including,  as  will  be  seen 
in  the  list  of  names  published  on  another 
page,  representatives  from  nearly  all  of  the 


18  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

theological  schools  of  the  East,  agricultural 
colleges,  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at 
Washington,  the  Bureau  of  Education,  the 
Federal  Council  of  Churches,  the  great  de- 
nominational bodies  and  the  leaders  in 
Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian 
Associations. 

There  was  a  very  general  agreement  that 
what  is  most  needed  in  order  that  the  country 
church  shall  function  properly  is,  first,  a 
specially  trained  ministry — a  ministry  that 
recognizes  in  the  country  church  an  oppor- 
tunity for  a  life  service,  a  ministry  so  gripped 
by  this  opportunity  that  no  appeal  of  the  city 
church  can  supersede  or  equal  it;  second,  a 
getting  together  of  all  the  forces  for  good  in 
the  community;  and  third,  the  development  of 
native  talent  in  leadership  equal  to  this  con- 
structive program  by  which  the  country  com- 
munity becomes  new  without  losing  the 
worthy  ideals  of  the  old.  This  is  real  com- 
munity building  which  recognizes  the  church 
as  the  fundamental  agency  of  human  welfare, 
but  points  out  the  necessity  of  a  broader  out- 
reach of  the  church  in  cooperation  with  sup- 
plemental agencies. 


RULES. 

A  committee  consisting  of  Dr.  Warren  H. 
Wilson  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  Dr.  W.  L. 
Anderson  of  Amherst,  Massachusetts,  Prof. 
Edwin  L.  Earp  of  Drew  Theological  Semi- 
nary and  Dr.  D.  H.  McAlpin  of  the  Inter- 
national Committee  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  prepared  rules  to  gov- 
ern the  discussions  as  follows : 

1.  Leader  of  discussion  will  be  allowed 
ten  minutes  for  opening  remarks. 

2.  Each  subsequent  speaker  will  be  al- 
lowed five  minutes  and  notified  one  minute 
before  expiration  of  time. 

3.  On  rising,  the  speaker  must  give  name 
and  the  name  of  the  institution  he  represents 
as  well  as  his  official  title. 

4.  No  man  can  speak  twice  on  the  same 
topic  without  general  consent. 

These  rules  were  presented  to  the  confer- 
ence by  Dr.  Wilson,  the  first  speaker,  and 
unanimously  adopted. 


THE  MORNING  SESSION 

Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  R.  H.  M. 
Augustine. 

D.  H.  McAlpin,  M.  D.,  Chairman  of  the 
County  Work  Department  of  the  Interna- 
tional Committee,  presided,  and  after  a  brief 
speech  of  cordial  welcome  to  the  delegates, 
asked  Mr.  Albert  E.  Roberts  to  state  the 
object  of  the  conference. 

Mr.  Roberts  : 

I  wish  to  say  that  whatever  good  may  come 
from  this  conference  is  due  in  a  very  large 
degree  to  the  work  of  Dr.  McAlpin,  Chair- 
man of  the  County  Work  Committee,  who 
has  manifested  a  great  deal  of  interest,  given 
a  great  deal  of  time,  and  who  more  than  any 
one  man  has  made  possible  this  gathering. 
Along  with  this  has  been  the  splendid  co- 
operation of  my  associate,  Mr.  Israel,  who 
has  conducted  much  of  the  correspondence 
and  has  put  in  a  great  deal  of  time  and  hard 
work  in  assembling  the  program.  We  also 
owe  thanks  to  the  men  who  have  counseled 


22  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

with  us — Dr.  Wilson,  Mr.  Hill  of  the  New 
York  State  work,  Dr.  Fiske  and  Dr.  Butter- 
iield.  Professor  Coe  of  Union  Theological 
Seminary  and  others  who  cannot  be  here. 
Many  have  contributed  to  make  this  program 
possible.  We  are  looking  for  light.  We  are 
on  a  common  platform,  allies  of  the  church. 
Because  the  church  is  so  great  a  factor  in  the 
community,  we  desire  to  know  where  we  can 
best  cooperate;  how  to  avoid  duplication  of 
effort  and  eliminate  waste;  and  so  with  that 
purpose  in  mind,  and  with  wholly  open  minds, 
as  was  expressed  in  the  prayer,  our  desire  is 
to  get  from  the  conference  those  things  that 
will  make  us  more  useful  in  the  work  to  which 
we  have  been  called. 

We  realize  the  limitations  of  this  program. 
Over  two  hundred  questions  were  submitted. 
We  have  missed  many  of  them,  but  this  is 
the  beginning  and  not  the  end.  We  hope  it 
is  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  similar  confer- 
ences. 

The  chairman  appointed  the  following 
delegates  to  bring  in  at  the  close  of  the  after- 
noon period  a  resume  of  each  discussion  for 
the  consideration  of  the  conference: 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  23 

Topic  I.  "Cooperation  and  Integration  of 
Country  Community  Institutions," 
Mr.  D.  C.  Drew. 

Topic  II.  "The  Teaching  of  Religion  in  the 
Country,"  Dr.  C.  A.  Barbour. 

Topic  III.  "Country  Church  Finances  and  Ad- 
ministration," Rev.  R.  H.  M.  Augus- 
tine. 

Topic  IV.  "Country  Community  Building,"  Prof. 
Ernest  Burnham. 

Topic  V.  "The  Function  of  the  Country 
Church,"  Mr.  Richard  C.  Morse. 

THE  TEACHING  OF  RELIGION  IN 
THE  COUNTRY 

Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson: 

The  "Religious  Teaching  in  the  Country 
Community"  is  a  matter  of  pure  pragmatism. 
In  certain  states  they  send  out  a  "seed  train" 
whose  business  it  is  to  test  the  fertility  of  the 
seed  corn.  We  have  come  today  to  do  the 
same  thing.  We  would  have  aboard  our 
"seed  train,"  which  shall  test  the  doctrine  in 
the  country  churches,  a  professor  of  sociol- 
ogy and  a  professor  of  economics;  a  repre- 
sentative of  scientific  agriculture,   a  country 


24  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

doctor  and  a  well-to-do  farmer.  These 
would  test  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the  coun- 
try minister,  in  a  very  practical  way.  Chris- 
tianity Is  a  good  gospel,  but  for  some  reason 
it  is  not  always  fertile  in  the  country  commu- 
nity. Why  not?  The  seed  is  planted  In  the 
mind  by  faithful  preachers,  but  people  are 
not  induced  to  follow  the  gospel.  The  ques- 
tion is,  "Does  the  gospel,  as  it  is  preached, 
make  good,  and  if  not,  what  is  needed  that 
it  may  make  good?"  We  have  to  approach, 
therefore,  the  fundamental  question  which 
President  Butterfield  precipitates  in  his  state- 
ment that  the  country  life  movement  Is  a 
movement  for  the  reconstruction  of  rural 
civilization.  What  gospel  and  what  ministry 
will  serve  in  this  reconstruction? 

Let  us  look  at  the  four  institutions  which 
have  been  the  nuclei  of  rural  interests,  the 
store,  the  school,  the  church  and  the  family. 
The  rural  household  is  the  traditional  Ameri- 
can family.  Everyone  of  these  nuclei  of 
country  life  is  out  of  repair  and  in  need  of 
reconstruction.  The  personal  character  of 
country  people  Is  not  out  of  repair.  Nowhere 
is  there  a  higher  Individual  morality.     The 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  25 

relations  of  the  sexes,  in  the  country,  as  the 
investigation  of  the  Rural  Life  Commission 
showed,  are  normal  and  the  ethical  stand- 
ards are  high.  Rural  observers  testify  to  the 
high  standard  of  individual  ethics,  according 
to  traditional  tests  of  righteousness,  but  the 
social  ethics  of  the  country  is  very  low.  I 
have  never  known  milk  farmers  who  had  any 
ethical  standard  as  to  the  quality  of  milk. 
They  believe  in  giving  quantity,  but  only  a 
social  standard  would  give  us  a  better  quality 
of  milk.  The  milk  farmer  will  fight  against 
a  higher  social  standard. 

The  country  store  is  closed.  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  says  that  the  country  above  all  needs 
better  business  methods.  Very  generally  the 
country  community  has  no  economic  center. 
The  country  school  is  the  most  retrograde 
of  all  educational  institutions.  The  country 
church  merely  exists,  struggling  for  survival 
alone.  The  rural  family  is  in  dissolution. 
The  picture  at  the  World's  Fair,  "Breaking 
Home  Ties,"  gave  artistic  expression  to  this 
condition  and  showed  the  sore  place  in  coun- 
try life. 

This  condition  of  social  dissolution,  this 


26  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

sharp  contrast  between  high  individual  ethics 
and  low  social  ethics,  describes  the  need  of 
religious  teaching  in  the  country.  It  should 
be  socially  constructive.  In  the  first  place, 
religious  teaching  in  the  country  should  be 
systematic,  but  not  dogmatic.  The  system 
should  be  thorough,  but  if  possible  it  should 
not  be  sectarian.  The  aim  of  religious  teach- 
ing in  the  country  should  be  to  unify,  not  to 
divide.  The  difference  between  higher  criti- 
cism and  conservative  biblical  teaching  cannot 
deliver  its  values  in  the  country.  I  have  seen 
a  Catholic  population  take  on  all  the  manners 
of  a  Quaker  population,  and  yet  remain  good 
Catholics.  I  know  the  minister  of  a  church 
covering  twenty-four  square  miles.  This 
church  has  taught  the  religion  of  unity,  for 
no  other  church  has  come  into  its  territory  in 
two  hundred  years.  Yet  I  know  another  com- 
munity where,  in  a  radius  of  four  miles,  there 
are  twenty-four  country  churches.  Farmers 
need  a  unitary  center  of  Christianity  and  they 
need  it  seriously. 

The  question,  "Where  shall  the  Bible  be 
taught?"  is  to  be  answered  with  another  ques- 
tion,  "What  leaders  can  we   secure?"   and 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  27 

"What  can  the  leaders  do?"  Leaders  are 
few  In  the  country  and  you  must  do,  in  the 
country  community,  that  for  which  you  have 
leaders.  The  Bible  should  be  taught  where 
the  leaders  available  can  best  teach  It.  Teach 
about  God,  and  not  about  the  church.  The 
essential  thing  Is  that  the  church,  the  Associa- 
tion, and  other  Institutions  be  forgotten,  and 
that  we  teach  the  divine  message :  the  father- 
hood of  God  and  the  divine  power  of  Jesus 
Christ.  If  we  do  so,  the  church  and  the 
Association  will  thrive. 

As  has  been  suggested,  we  should  not 
teach.  In  the  country,  about  miracles  or  excep- 
tional instances,  heroes,  saints  and  wonders 
so  much,  but  should  teach  obedience  to  law, 
standards  of  conduct,  practicable,  economic 
and  ethical  levels.  The  farmer  is  governed 
by  law,  and  not  by  accident,  and  the  rural 
economy  develops  regular  action  rather  than 
impulsive  and  special  action. 

Religious  teaching  in  the  country  centers 
in  the  seminary.  The  need  in  the  seminary 
Is  not  to  discredit  the  biblical  and  traditional 
training,  but  to  add  to  it  the  teaching  of  the 
science  of  sociology.     We  have  in  the  semi- 


28  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

nary  a  great  body  of  knowledge,  to  which 
must  be  applied  social  and  economic  thinking 
and  a  training  in  social  service.  We  need  to 
supplement  the  seminary  training,  not  to  dis- 
place it,  but  the  training  in  sociology  must  be 
scientific,  scholarly,  and  the  teacher  of  this 
science  must  be  the  peer  of  any  other  in  the 
seminary. 

Dr.  a.  S.  Hobart: 

I  regret  any  seeming  thrust  at  the  life  of 
the  individual  church.  Whatever  civilization 
there  is  in  the  country  comes  from  Christian 
churches,  and  whatever  morality  is  in  the 
people  comes  from  Christian  teaching  as 
given  there.  It  has  been  given  by  ministers  as 
taught  in  seminaries  by  the  curricula  as  they 
are.  I  think  we  must  be  careful  not  to  say 
Christian  churches  are  not  good  for  anything. 
My  observations  of  moral  conditions  in  the 
country  lead  me  to  different  conclusions.  I 
may  be  in  error  but  my  judgment  is  that  in 
sexual  matters  the  country  is  worse  off  than 
the  city.  I  once  supposed  the  city  was  very 
rotten,  but  since  living  in  cities  I  think  the 
evil  worse  in  the  country. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  29 

If  you  introduce  much  sociology  and  eco- 
nomics into  our  seminaries  you  must  leave  the 
Bible  out  for  lack  of  time.  This  movement, 
if  it  goes  on  the  lines  indicated  in  this  pro- 
gram, strikes  at  the  whole  organization  of 
the  Christian  church.  When  you  leave  out 
of  seminaries  instruction  in  the  Bible  and 
theology  you  are  taking  the  foundation  out 
from  under  the  Christian  church.  So  far  you 
have  not  found  anything  else  to  take  the  place 
of  these.  Agriculture  won't  do  it,  sociology 
won't  do  it.  If  you  don't  preach  the  Bible, 
the  churches  won't  last.  The  Bible  is  the 
source  of  all  and  when  you  ask  the  ministers 
to  teach  sociology  and  agriculture  and  eco- 
nomics you  are  putting  on  them  a  burden 
which  is  too  heavy. 

Hon.  W.  M.  Hays: 

This  question  of  the  country  church  is 
bound  up  with  the  entire  reorganization  of 
the  rural  community  and  the  rural  commu- 
nity is  making  itself  over  and  is  adopting  a 
new  unit  of  organization.  The  size  of  area 
covered  by  the  new  unit  is  determined  by  the 
practicable  team-haul  to   the   public  school. 


30  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Five  to  eight  one-room  schools  to  which  the 
pupils  walk  are  being  consolidated  into  one 
three-  to  six-room  school  to  which  the  pupils 
are  hauled  in  public  wagons.  The  farmers 
in  the  open  country  during  the  past  sixteen 
years  have  made  more  than  one  thousand 
experiments  in  consolidating  rural  schools. 
Not  five  per  cent  of  the  two  or  three  hundred 
thousand  parents  who  have  had  experience 
sending  their  children,  both  to  the  one- 
room  rural  school  and  to  the  consolidated 
rural  school,  would  vote  to  return  to  the 
smaller  unit.  The  consolidated  rural  school 
has  won  its  way  in  American  country  life 
education. 

The  farm  families  are  recentered  about 
the  consolidated  rural  school.  Once  the 
people  in  this  new  school  district  all  become 
acquainted  they  will  gradually  center  many 
of  their  other  country  life  interests  beside  the 
school.  Heretofore  the  farm  families  have 
been  but  poorly  centered  about  the  one-room 
school,  about  the  country  church,  which  is 
rarely  beside  the  school,  and  about  the 
country  stores,  villages  and  towns. 

Under  the   new  plan  we   shall  have  the 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  31 

farm  families  all  so  recentered  about  the  con- 
solidated rural  school — with  its  district  cov- 
ering twenty  to  forty  square  miles,  instead 
of  four  to  six  square  miles,  as  in  the  past — 
that  a  new  community  life  will  spring  up. 
The  sending  of  delegates  to  county  and  other 
associations  and  country  life  federations  will 
tend  to  solidify  this  new  consolidated  rural 
school  district. 

New  functions  will  be  assumed.  Under 
my  direction  investigations  have  been  made 
concerning  these  rural  schools  during  the 
past  several  years.  Those  of  us  who  have 
been  concerned  with  this  investigation  believe 
the  consolidated  rural  school  district  is  to 
generally  take  the  place  of  the  one-room 
school  district.  It  is  succeeding  from  Florida 
to  New  England  and  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
to  the  Pacific.  The  new  district  provides 
conditions  under  which  the  organization  of 
all  phases  of  country  life  can  be  effected. 
Forty  thousand  of  these  country  life  consoli- 
dated schools  will  be  required  to  take  the 
place  of  the  nearly  three  hundred  thousand 
one-room  rural  schools. 

Nearly  every  question  which  has  entered 


32  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

in  your  discussion  today  is  to  be  greatly  af- 
fected by  this  consolidation.  The  county 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  cen- 
tered at  the  county  seat,  can  have  at  least 
committees  at  each  of  the  twenty  or  thirty 
consolidated  rural  schools  which  make  up  the 
county  system  of  country  life  schools.  May 
we  not  expect  that  those  who  grow  up  asso- 
ciated with  this  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association  committee  work,  will  eventually 
want  a  single  union  church  centered  at  the 
same  place  as  the  school,  so  as  to  serve  the 
same  group  of  people  as  have  become  ac- 
quainted while  together  being  educated  in  the 
public  school?  We  need  to  make  a  few 
simple  changes  in  the  ecclesiastical  arrange- 
ments of  the  Christian  church  so  that  this 
union  may  be  made  easy  instead  of  retarded 
as  it  now  is. 

Prof.  Robert  W.  Veach: 

''What  are  the  best  courses  of  Bible  study 
for  working  farmers?" 

This    whole    question    involves   the    ideal 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  33 

reconstruction  of  country  life.  Any  course 
of  biblical  study  that  would  uplift  the  country 
must  furnish  that  ideal;  it  must  give  a  vision 
of  what  is  to  be.  The  vision  must  be  seen  in 
its  large  historic  perspective.  If  I  under- 
stand the  Bible  aright  it  means  precisely  that 
thing,  the  history  of  a  great  social  reconstruc- 
tion, which  seeks  to  develop  those  higher  and 
finer  religious  ideals  which  purify  and  uplift 
society.  Therefore  the  Bible  course  that  will 
best  fit  this  situation  is,  first  of  all,  one  that 
sees  the  Bible  in  its  large  historic  perspec- 
tive. 

Another  thought:  We  believe  now  that 
out  of  social  life  and  out  of  the  interactions 
of  social  life  all  our  religious  development 
is  bound  to  take  its  character.  Therefore 
we  must  look  to  the  Bible  for  the  basic  prin- 
ciples of  social  reconstruction;  that  is,  we 
must  have  a  biblical  sociology.  For  instance, 
I  was  in  the  country  two  years  ago  talking  to 
a  brilliant  young  minister,  and  he  said,  'T 
want  to  start  a  men's  Bible  class  in  my  church, 
but  I  am  waiting  until  the  International  Sun- 
day School  Lessons  get  out  of  the  Prophets." 
He  failed  utterly  to  see  the  relation  between 


34  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

the  social  message  of  the  Prophets  and  social 
reconstruction  in  country  life.  Instead  of 
sociology  crowding  out  the  Bible  in  the  semi- 
nary it  must  spring  forth  from  the  Bible  if 
it  is  going  to  be  vital. 

There  are  two  psychological  principles 
that  should  also  determine  the  best  course  of 
Bible  study  for  country  life.  The  first  is  that 
the  will  is  the  central  function  in  all  religious 
development.  Bible  study  should  therefore 
seek  to  bring  out  those  great  moral  principles 
that  grip  the  will  and  bring  the  daily  life  into 
conformity  to  the  highest  ideals.  The  Bible 
is  a  book  that  grew  up  in  God's  great  out-of- 
doors.  The  Ten  Commandments  were  deliv- 
ered in  the  open  air.  Jesus  drew  His  illus- 
trations largely  from  country  life,  from  sky 
and  hill  and  field.  Bible  study  should  there- 
fore seek  to  make  country  life  conscious  of 
the  religious  significance  of  its  open-air  envi- 
ronment. 

Another  feature:  When  Jesus  was  using 
that  great  example  of  the  Parable  of  the 
Tares  He  made  one  significant  statement, 
''the  good  seed,  these  are  the  sons  of  the 
Kingdom."       Truth     through     personality. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  35 

The  personality  of  the  teacher  lies  back  of 
the  success  of  every  course  of  Bible  study. 

Prof.  Arthur  S.  Hoyt: 

I  am  a  country  boy  myself,  born  on  a  farm 
and  raised  on  a  farm.  For  twenty  years  I 
have  tried  to  teach  theology.  We  need,  first 
of  all,  men  who  will  be  systematic  teachers 
of  the  people.  The  new  scientific  agriculture 
should  demand  on  the  part  of  the  pulpit,  not 
spasmodic  evangelism,  but  a  well-trained, 
systematic  ministry,  who  will  instruct  the 
people  in  a  scientific  way  in  regard  to  Bible 
truths  and  the  truths  of  life,  and  can  quicken 
the  intellectual  life  of  the  people.  My  own 
pastor  has  no  less  than  thirty  men  who  are 
widely  known  in  commercial  enterprises  of 
this  country.  That  is  the  result  of  a  well- 
trained  man  to  pass  on  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual life  to  the  service  of  the  country.  I  have 
no  fear  of  the  introduction  of  sociology  in 
the  theological  seminary.  We  need  more  of 
It,  and  not  less.  We  need  to  cull  out  the  old 
non-essential  courses  of  our  curriculum.  We 
must  give  the  young  men  the  right  attitude 
toward  this  and  then  send  them  out  as  social 


36  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Students  to  social  service.  Every  seminary 
should  have  social  training  for  theological 
students. 

Dr.  Wilson: 

Let  me  say  to  the  theological  men  present 
that  four  of  the  agricultural  colleges  will 
train  your  ministers  this  year  in  postgraduate 
courses.  They  are  offering  summer  schools 
for  country  ministers.  Massachusetts  Agri- 
cultural College  had  thirty  ministers  present 
last  year.  President  Butterfield  is  equal  to 
any  man  in  the  seminary  in  his  value  to  the 
country  minister.  Michigan,  Iowa  and  Kan- 
sas are  doing  this  work  well.  The  seminaries 
must  recognize  the  need  of  scholarly  train- 
ing in  rural  sociology,  which  these  agricul- 
tural colleges  are  satisfying. 

What  is  needed  is  a  training  in  the  schol- 
arly study  of  religious  phenomena.  Religion 
is  the  product  of  group  life,  not  of  individual 
life.  Long  ago  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  recognized  this  principle  and 
acted  upon  it.  It  is  coming  clearly  to  adopt 
it  in  its  perfect  organization. 

In  the   second   place,   the   religion  to   be 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  37 

taught  In  our  day  must  be  that  of  adaptation 
to  environment.  Professor  Carver  said  this 
summer,  speaking  to  Association  men,  that 
the  country  church  has  the  key  to  the  problem 
of  country  life,  because  the  universities  have 
the  body  of  knowledge,  but  the  spirit  to  use 
that  knowledge  must  be  supplied  by  the 
churches.  Almost  all  education  has  been 
secularized.  We  are  confronted  with  secu- 
larization of  religious  education  in  this  action 
of  the  agricultural  colleges.  At  the  head  of 
the  leading  agricultural  colleges  of  the  North- 
ern and  Eastern  States  are  Christian  men 
who  are  demanding  the  help  of  the  churches 
in  the  spiritual  leadership  of  country  people. 
Their  message  is  heard  by  the  country 
churches  today.  In  our  discussion  last  year 
among  Presbyterian  churches  I  was  able  to 
use  many  agricultural  college  and  university 
professors,  but  practically  no  professors  in 
theological  seminaries.  These  men  in  the 
agricultural  colleges  are  concerned  with  the 
struggle  of  the  farmer  for  survival.  This 
struggle  is  affecting  every  situation  in  the 
country  and  every  institution.  It  is  for  this 
struggle  that  the  farmer  needs  religious  help. 


38  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

If  the  theological  seminaries  will  not  give 
him  help,  he  will  get  it  elsewhere.  The  prob- 
lem before  this  conference  is  the  question 
which  confronts  the  farmer:  ^'Is  the  country 
church  worth  while?"  "What  is  the  function 
of  the  country  church?" 

Dr.  Hugh  B.  MacCauley: 

In  my  district  of  thirteen  states,  from 
Maine  to  West  Virginia,  I  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  see  the  condition  of  things  in  the 
country  in  a  way  that  is  very  broad.  I  am 
concerned  with  these  questions  as  related  to 
the  formation  of  local  federations.  In  the 
county  seat  of  one  of  the  most  rural  counties 
of  one  of  my  states,  they  told  me  that  there 
were  one  hundred  drunkards.  I  am  prepared 
to  believe  that  if  there  is  any  place  which 
needs  the  remedy  that  Jesus  Christ  alone  can 
give,  that  place  is  the  country.  What  is 
needed  more  than  anything  else  is  that  God's 
remedy  for  sin  be  pressed  with  power  upon 
all  members  of  the  parish  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts by  the  country  pastor.  I  yield  to  no 
one  in  believing  that  we  should  emphasize 
social  service,  but  I  also  feel  that  the  ques- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  39 

tions  that  pertain  to  the  social  service  occupy 
a  subordinate  position. 

Now  two  things :  It  is  not  sectarian  to  im- 
press upon  men  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  and 
that  He  is  the  only  Saviour  whom  God  has 
provided  for  the  sinner.  It  is  not  sectarian 
to  claim  that  the  Word  of  God  is  the  only 
authority  in  matters  of  morals  and  religion. 
As  we  press  home  upon  men  the  need  of 
Christ,  it  is  then  and  only  then  that  we  are 
going  to  get  down  to  the  roots  of  this  diffi- 
culty which  is  so  fearful.  We  ought  to  en- 
courage our  country  pastors  to  evangelize 
the  country  districts,  and  work  through  the 
school,  grange,  social  service,  etc.,  all  splen- 
did arms  of  the  main  body,  all  fingers  on  the 
saving  hand  of  the  church.  Beyond  and  be- 
hind all  other  means  is  the  paramount  duty 
of  the  country  pastor  to  press  home  the  need 
of  Christ.  We  must  maintain  clearly  before 
all  minds  and  hearts  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  only  hope  and  the  only  Saviour  from 
sin,  and  the  only  guide. 

Prof.  Charles  R.  Erdman: 

As  the  discussion  has  drifted  toward  the 


40  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Storm  center  of  the  theological  seminary,  and 
as  I  have  the  fortune  or  misfortune  to  serve 
one  of  these  particular  institutions,  I  may 
venture  one  or  two  remarks:  First,  as  to 
sociology,  it  should  be  afforded  a  place  in 
every  theological  curriculum  and  is  already 
being  taught  in  most  of  our  seminaries,  but 
the  place  must  be  a  subordinate  one.  Amid 
the  multiplicity  of  topics  to  be  considered 
not  much  special  treatment  can  be  given  to 
rural  sociology,  nor  is  it  so  much  needed,  as 
the  large  proportion  of  theological  students 
come  from  the  country  and  are  familiar  with 
rural  conditions  and  problems. 

Secondly,  this  sociology  must  be  definitely 
Christian.  Some  of  the  questions  before  us 
for  debate  might  seem  to  imply  that  the  be- 
lief in  miracles  or  in  all  which  is  supernatural, 
is  to  be  regarded  as  obsolete.  Most  of  us 
believe  in  the  supernatural  and  feel  that  only 
a  religion  which  is  definitely  supernatural  and 
truly  Christian  can  form  a  true  basis  for  so- 
ciology or  for  ethics.  Such  doctrines  must 
be  taught  and  are  as  readily  received  in  the 
rural  districts  as  in  the  cities.  The  supreme 
work  of  the  church  must  ever  be  the  teach- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  41 

ing  of  such  revealed  truth  and  the  cultivation 
of  resulting  spiritual  life. 

Prof.  G.  Walter  Fiske  : 

A  word  on  the  "sociology"  Issue.  What- 
ever differences  of  opinion  may  be  developed 
In  the  course  of  our  discussions  today,  It 
seems  to  me  we  need  not  split  on  this  propo- 
sition, for  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  essen- 
tial difference  In  our  fundamental  meaning. 
No  one  of  the  speakers  has  In  any  sense  pro- 
posed sociology  as  a  substitute  for  the  gospel. 
I  think  no  one  has  ever  claimed  that  you  could 
save  a  man  by  sociology,  any  more  than  you 
can  "give  a  man  a  bath  by  brushing  his 
clothes."  Social  study  gives  a  man  a  vision 
and  a  spirit  and  a  method;  but  in  no  sense  Is 
It  any  substitute  for  the  gospel  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

COUNTRY  CHURCH  FINANCES 
AND  ADMINISTRATION 

Prof.  Thomas  Cuming  Hall: 

My  function  is  simply  to  raise  the  ques- 
tion which  must  be  taken  up  next.  Almost 
any  of  the  questions  might  be  answered  by  a 


42  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Still  more  fundamental  question.  If  any  one 
asks,  "Has  the  country  minister  a  living 
wage?"  it  is  easy  to  ask  the  still  more  funda- 
mental question,  "Has  the  country  farmer  a 
living  wage?"  In  the  long  run  the  wages  of 
a  country  minister  will  depend  upon  justice 
being  done  to  the  farmer.  I  think  almost 
any  thoughtful  man  in  this  country  must 
admit  that  the  farmer  is  bearing  an  undue 
burden  of  taxation,  and  the  country  minister 
suffers  with  him  on  this  account.  And  yet 
this  question  is  but  part  of  a  still  larger  ques- 
tion concerning  the  distribution  of  all  the 
products  of  human  toil. 

Again,  if  it  is  asked,  "Why  do  rural  lay- 
men manage  so  badly?"  it  is  easy  to  retort, 
"Why  do  we  all  manage  so  badly?"  "Why 
does  the  city  manage  so  badly?"  "Why  does 
the  state  manage  so  badly?"  The  question 
is,  in  fact,  very  fundamental.  Now  one  diffi- 
culty in  the  financial  management  of  the 
country  church  is  the  lack  of  proper  church 
federation.  And  what  is  the  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  church  federation?  At  bottom,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  it  is  all  too  often  a  selfish  prop- 
erty interest.    We  are  face  to  face  then  with 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  43 

one  of  the  most  serious  questions  of  our  own 
day. 

My  Interest  In  the  financial  management 
of  the  country  church  arises  out  of  my  part 
In  the  endeavor  to  attain  local  autonomy  In 
the  financial  management  of  the  churches 
under  the  Home  Mission  committee  of  my 
denomination  In  the  western  section  of  our 
land.  Several  of  us  In  early  days  struggled 
hard  to  get  state  Independence  on  the  Home 
Mission  field.  This  was  not  because  we  did 
not  believe  that  the  financial  wisdom  of  the 
central  committee  was  not  properly  superior 
to  the  financial  wisdom  of  local  churches;  but 
because  It  Is  more  Important  that  a  man  make 
his  own  mistakes,  and  learn  his  own  lessons 
from  his  mistakes,  than  that  he  be  success- 
fully and  wisely  guided  even  by  omniscience. 
It  Is  God's  plan  to  let  us  make  our  own  mis- 
takes and  suffer  for  them.  What  the  country 
church  needs  is  autonomy  and  at  the  same 
time  wise  counsel  and  guidance  so  far  as  that 
can  be  given  without  interfering  with  Its 
autonomy.  Every  one  of  our  denominations 
Is  in  danger  of  making  a  mistake  In  the 
financing  of  a  country  church.    And  the  mis- 


44  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

take  lies  in  challenging  the  local  autonomy 
in  the  endeavor  to  supply  the  guidance  which 
undoubtedly  young  churches  need.  This 
challenge  is  sometimes  by  centralized  govern- 
ment, as  in  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Episco- 
pal and  in  some  instances  the  Methodist 
churches,  in  other  cases  there  is  an  indirect 
challenge  through  societies  that  control  the 
collection  and  distribution  of  benevolent 
funds.  But  the  evil  is  mainly  done  in  teach- 
ing the  country  church  the  fatal  lesson  of 
constantly  receiving  rather  than  giving.  The 
church  should  be  constantly  rather  a  dis- 
penser than  a  receiver,  I  would,  there- 
fore, rather  prefer  relative  inefficiency  in  the 
financial  arrangements  of  an  autonomous 
church,  than  high  efficiency  and  churches  de- 
pendent upon  a  central  organization.  Hence, 
one  of  the  ideals  must  be  to  get  the  country 
church  self-sustaining  on  however  modest  a 
scale;  and  where  this  is  not  possible,  to  give 
only  such  supplementary  support  as  may  be 
absolutely  necessary,  and  to  give  that  support 
in  such  a  way  that  the  local  autonomy  will  be 
as  little  undermined  as  possible. 

I  cannot  but  try  to  point  out  that  one  of 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  45 

the  reasons  why  the  finances  of  a  country 
church  are  a  difficulty  Is  that  our  whole  sys- 
tem of  taxation  is  making  for  the  extension 
of  our  cities  and  the  relative  Impoverishment 
of  the  country.     Hence  the  finances  of  the 
country  church  are  but  a  part  of  the  great 
question  of  the  uneven  distribution  of  our 
national  wealth,  and  we  have  a  direct  interest 
not  only  In  a  science  of  a  new  society,  but 
In  a  science  of  a  new  Christian  society.    The 
complete   rebuilding  of  a   reconstructed  so- 
ciety Is  a  large  task,  but  only  when  the  bur- 
dens of  life  are  more  evenly  distributed  will 
it  be  possible  for  the  country  church  to  do  Its 
work  unhampered.      A   step   in  this   recon- 
struction   is,    of   course,    the    federation    of 
country  churches.    This  will  have  to  be  made 
on  the  basis  of  some  doctrinal  compromise; 
but   the   most   important   and   most   difficult 
compromises  will  be  the  compromises  in  the 
community  interests,   compromises  in  social 
arrangements,    such    compromises    as    grow 
out  of  the  struggle  to  learn  how  men  and 
women   may  live   together   in   love   that    Is 
heavenly,  a  love  of  one  another  because  we 
are  the  erring  children  of  one  Father,  Who 


46  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

has  called  us  to  love  as  men  and  women  and 
brethren. 

Rev.  Edward  Tallmadge  Root  : 

There  are  ministers  who  are  leaving  the 
ministry.  In  one  Massachusetts  Congrega- 
tional Association  four  men  left  within  the 
past  year.  Why  do  they  leave  ?  In  the  first 
place  they  leave  because  of  the  small  salary. 
They  are  unable  to  educate  their  children.  I 
know  one,  however,  able  to  earn  far  more, 
who  returned  to  the  ministry  for  a  less  in- 
come. But  a  deeper  reason  is  that  they  feel 
that  in  spite  of  all  of  the  sacrifices,  they 
are  not  working  for  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Several  of  these  ministers  who  left  this  Con- 
gregational body  in  Massachusetts  did  so 
because  while  working  under  such  conditions 
of  church  competition  they  felt  that  they  were 
simply  wasting  their  lives.  The  only  solution 
is  that  pointed  out  by  Dr.  Hall — the  federa- 
tion of  local  churches.  In  Massachusetts  we 
have  made  an  investigation  of  one  hundred 
smaller  towns,  classified  as  one,  two,  and 
three-church  towns.  Among  these  groups  we 
took  ten  towns  of  equal  population.     They 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  47 

were  selected  for  this  reason  simply.  Then 
the  statistics  of  the  churches  selected  were 
compared.  Salaries  declined  from  $842  in 
the  average  one-church  town  to  $483  in  the 
three-church  town.  The  three-church  town 
received  ten  times  as  much  home  missionary 
aid  as  the  one-church  town.  In  view  of  these 
facts  is  it  not  perfectly  evident  that  there  is 
no  solution  for  the  country  church  question 
as  long  as  we  multiply  churches  in  small  com- 
munities? Is  it  not  ridiculous  to  attempt  to 
maintain  more  than  one  church  for  a  popula- 
tion of  one  thousand  or  less? 

Rev.  Paul  Martin  : 

As  secretary  of  a  theological  seminary  and 
so  in  touch  with  students  and  younger  min- 
isters seeking  churches  and  with  churches 
seeking  ministers  I  speak  on  the  country 
church  problem.  There  was  a  time  ten  or 
twenty  years  ago  when  the  farmers  were 
generally  in  hard  straits  financially,  but  in 
large  sections  of  the  country  this  is  no  longer 
true.  Crops  have  been  large,  prices  good; 
mortgages  have  been  paid  off ;  the  automobile 
manufacturers  report  large  sales  to  farmers. 


48  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Not  long  since  I  attended  a  conference  of  the 
officers  of  a  country  church  to  which  the 
fifteen  men  came  in  one  buggy  and  three  auto- 
mobiles, and  the  wealthiest  man  present  did 
not  have  occasion  to  use  his;  but  they  were 
not  equal  to  devising  liberal  things  for  their 
church.  There  is  often  money  enough  in 
the  rural  church;  the  further  economic  de- 
velopment of  the  resources  of  the  farm  may 
be  safely  left  to  the  activities  of  the  agricul- 
tural department,  the  agricultural  college  and 
like  influences.  The  country  people  need 
training  in  the  more  liberal  and  wiser  expen- 
ditures of  their  money  on  the  church  and  its 
associated  work. 

A  larger  church  unit  is  a  needed  step 
toward  the  solution  of  the  country  church 
problem.  There  are  too  many  churches  in 
our  rural  communities,  in  their  rivalry  each 
eking  out  a  meager  existence  and  living  at 
a  poor  dying  rate.  Dividing  a  field  not  too 
large  for  one  church  and  minister,  they  fail 
to  give  sufficient  support  to  the  several 
pastors,  not  merely  in  salary,  but  in  equip- 
ment, workers  and  congregation  to  bring  out 
the  best  in  the  minister  or  to  make  the  work 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  49 

of  the  church  effective.  The  community  does 
not  truly  respect  the  minister  who  Is  content 
to  occupy  the  third  or  the  fourth  of  what  is 
properly  one  man's  field;  and  not  being  able 
to  maintain  his  own  full  self-respect  in  it,  he 
becomes  discouraged  and  restless.  Theo- 
logical students  and  ministers  are  not  afraid 
of  work  or  hardship — witness  that  they  can 
be  secured  for  foreign  or  city  missions  far 
more  readily  than  for  rural  church  work. 
This  Is  especially  true  of  the  stronger  men  in 
the  seminaries. 

A  first  necessity  in  the  solution  of  the  rural 
church  problem  Is  the  amalgamation  of  the 
little  rival  churches  of  the  village  or  neigh- 
boring hamlets  into  one  church  large  enough 
and  strong  enough  to  give  permanent  scope 
for  a  strong,  well-trained  ministry;  with 
vitality  enough  to  maintain  itself  with  dignity, 
and  with  energy  to  spare  for  aggressive 
Christian  service  to  the  community,  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  stranger  within  the 
gates  and  for  participation  in  the  great  work 
of  the  church  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
world. 


50  the  rural  church  and 

Rev.  Wilbert  L.  Anderson  : 

Just  a  word  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
agricultural  colleges  that  have  taken  the  lead 
in  making  some  suggestions  in  regard  to 
church  work  and  ministerial  training.  Now 
it  is  not  any  thought  of  the  agricultural  col- 
lege that  the  college  should  supersede  the 
seminary  in  the  teaching  of  the  great  truths 
of  the  Christian  religion,  but  it  is  the  thought 
of  the  agricultural  college  that  there  is  a 
great  new  movement  coming  on  in  country 
life,  and  that  persons  who  are  interested  in 
that  great  new  development  call  to  the 
country  church  for  help. 

As  I  conceive  it  we  are  coming  to  a  crisis 
in  this  matter,  a  crisis  not  so  much  for  rural 
prosperity  as  for  the  Christian  church. 
When  the  Christian  church  responds  to  these 
calls  and  provides  the  leadership  that  is  de- 
manded, then  it  makes  good  its  opportunity 
for  generations  to  come.  If  you  limit  the 
teaching  by  the  pastors  in  the  country  church 
to  religious  doctrines,  however  true  they  may 
be  conceived  in  the  older  spirit,  sympathy  for 
the  life  of  the  people  may  limit  your  financial 
support  of  the  church  to  a  small  portion  of 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  51 

the  population.  Just  at  this  point  this  topic 
matches  on  with  the  one  that  went  before. 
What  is  wanted  is  that  the  country  minister 
should  be  sympathetic  with  this  new  move- 
ment of  country  life,  that  he  should  under- 
stand and  appreciate  it.  As  a  trained  theo- 
logian, he  will  face  the  truth  as  other  theo- 
logians do.  We  still  are  loyal  to  the  truth 
and  not  altogether  pragmatists.  The  demand 
is  that  the  country  minister  shall  understand 
rural  life,  and  when  he  does  that  sympa- 
thetically, he  will  gather  to  the  church  new 
support.  If  the  country  church  will  respond 
to  this  cause  and  give  its  vital  message  to  the 
people,  there  will  gather  to  the  church  the 
support  due.  The  country  minister  is  per- 
haps the  only  one  in  command  of  the  forces 
that  can  solve  these  problems.  What  shall 
bring  them  together?  The  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  gospel  of  love,  the  gospel,  if  you 
please,  of  love  even  to  the  extent  of  the 
atoning  cross, — that  is  the  necessary  solvent 
of  the  irritation  and  antagonism  that  prevent 
the  social  development  of  our  rural  com- 
munities. What  we  want  is  that  the  church 
shall  understand  that  gospel  of  love.     We 


52  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

want  the  country  church  to  furnish  ideals  to 
the  community.  Making  these  adjustments, 
the  community  church  can  be  supported  in 
nine  cases  in  ten  without  outside  help. 

COUNTRY  COMMUNITY  BUILDING 

Prof.  Edwin  L.  Earp  : 

The  general  topic  is  "Country  Community 
Building."  I  will  attempt  in  a  general  way  to 
speak  on  the  subject  of  community  building  as 
related  to  the  church.  I  think  we  all  feel 
that  one  of  the  hardest  fields  in  the  church 
work  today  is  the  rural  church  community. 
The  hardest  missionary  fields  today  are  the 
lost  home  fields,  and  the  country  church 
represents  one  of  those  fields.  I  think  that 
as  one  goes  back  to  his  home  community 
where  there  once  thrived  under  his  denomi- 
nation a  country  church  and  sees  the  building 
now  dilapidated  and  very  little  work  going 
on,  he  feels  that  the  country  church  problem 
for  him  is  a  vital  one.  I  can  give  the  reasons 
why  we  have  not  a  successful  church  com- 
munity life  in  my  own  state,  and  in  my  own 
country  district.     I  think  that  as  I  have  fol- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  53 

lowed  it  since  I  left  school  and  gone  back  on 
vacations,  the  real  reason  why  we  have  not 
a  successful  country  church  is  not  that  we 
have  not  as  many  people  there  as  formerly, 
but  that  while  the  character  of  the  population 
has  changed  somewhat,  yet  the  character  of 
the  methods  of  meeting  the  religious  and 
social  needs  of  the  community  have  changed 
very  little.  Furthermore,  the  men  who  are 
sent  to  man  these  churches  (I  speak  for  my 
own  denomination)  are,  because  of  their 
training,  often  unfit  for  the  mastery  of  the 
problems  of  the  country  districts.  In  a  con- 
ference the  other  day,  following  the  discus- 
sion of  a  paper,  I  related  this:  a  farmer  told 
me  they  had  a  minister  in  his  neighborhood 
who  hadn't  get-up  enough  in  him  to  eat  the 
fried  chicken  they  offered  him. 

I  think  one  of  the  most  essential  things  in 
the  whole  problem  of  the  country  church  is 
to  have  clearly  in  mind  a  program  for  com- 
munity work  that  will  be  put  into  the  course 
of  training  for  the  men  who  are  to  be  sent 
into  the  country.  I  hope  the  time  will  come 
when  we  will  make  an  appeal  direct,  and 
make   provision   in   our   theological   semina- 


54  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

ries;  an  appeal  that  will  move  men  to  Invest 
their  lives  in  the  work  of  the  country  com- 
munity as  they  are  moved  now  to  invest  their 
lives  in  the  foreign  field,  or  in  the  so-called 
slum  districts  of  our  cities,  or  to  man  the 
bigger  churches  in  every  community.  To  do 
this  we  have  got  to  put  the  emphasis  on  a 
new  kind  of  minister,  which  I  like  to  call  the 
religious-social-engineer,  for  if  there  is  any 
place  where  we  need  a  community  of  inter- 
ests, it  is  in  the  country  where  the  financial 
support  has  not  yet  been  put  upon  a  paying 
basis.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  first  essen- 
tial is  to  have  a  community  plan  and  to  have 
the  call  of  a  man  who  is  willing  to  make  a 
sacrifice,  even  like  Paul,  be  a  '^tent-maker" 
at  his  own  expense,  until  he  can  build  up  a 
constituency  in  the  country  districts  that  will 
support  his  movements  in  ministering  to  that 
community  in  every  phase  of  its  economic, 
social  and  religious  life. 

It  is  not  so  hard  to  get  money  in  a  country 
community  as  it  may  seem,  because  the  coun- 
try is  not  so  poor  as  it  may  appear.  I  was  in 
the  West  this  summer,  and  was  given  more 
automobile  rides  in  the  central  part  of  Kan- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  55 

sas  by  farmers  than  I  have  ever  had  around 
my  home  section,  inhabited  by  millionaires. 
I  see  no  difficulty  if  I  were  to  re-enter  the 
pastorate  (and  I  may  do  it)  In  succeeding 
In  a  community  like  that,  for  I  think  it  would 
be  an  easy  thing  for  one  to  get  those  splendid 
farmers  to  rally  to  him  and  help  minister  to 
the  life  of  the  whole  county.  It  should  be 
our  aim,  however,  to  get  some  central  organi- 
zation that  would  minister  to  the  whole 
county's  needs.  It  would  be  harder  in  states 
like  New  York  and  New  Jersey  to  do  this 
because  of  the  character  of  the  roads.  One 
of  the  questions  we  have  to  consider  In  the 
country  is  how  to  secure  better  roads.  It 
seems  to  me  that  we  must  have  first  of  all  a 
man  who  is  educated  for  the  community  life 
of  church  work.  I  made  this  suggestion  in 
a  question  that  I  offered  in  response  to  the 
correspondence  sent  out  previous  to  ,thls  con- 
ference, and  it  was,  "Shall  the  community 
social  center  substitute  the  old  circuit 
system?" 

In  one  of  the  counties  of  my  own  state  I 
once  served  six  appointments  of  a  circuit  that 
had     twelve.      Six   of   those    appointments. 


56  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

scattered  In  out-of-the-way  places,  were  then 
thinking  how  they  could  build  a  church  out 
on  the  main  road  as  a  central  church  to  the 
whole  community.  The  people  should  be 
educated  to  make  the  church,  Itself,  the  center 
of  activity,  and  I  think  the  farmers  could  be 
made  willing  to  give  up  their  property  Inter- 
ests and  prejudices  for  the  establishment  of 
a  central  building  that  would  correspond  to 
what  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Is  in  some  of  the  counties  of  New  York 
State;  from  this  central  bureau  all  points 
could  be  served  and  a  man  big  enough  to 
understand  his  job  could  be  put  In  charge 
for  a  lifetime.  Another  point  is  the  interest 
that  the  farmer  himself  and  the  farmer's 
wife  and  his  children  would  have  In  such  a 
center,  where  they  can  feel  they  are  some- 
body, rather  than  be  off  in  a  small  commu- 
nity by  themselves. 

Mr.  Hays  : 

There  is  a  constant  discussion  of  church 
federation  and  of  church  union  and  of  organ- 
izing around  centers.  Those  of  us  who  have 
been  especially  working  with  the  consolidated 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  57 

rural  school,  believing  that  that  center  Is 
practically  coming,  expect  the  country  church 
to  be  placed  at  the  same  center,  both  as  a 
matter  of  economy  and  as  a  matter  of  effi- 
ciently serving  the  recentered  rural  com- 
munity. The  people  of  this  larger  district 
will  all  know  each  other.  When  you  have  a 
large  community  thus  organized  Into  various 
associations,  each  with  power  to  send  dele- 
gates to  county  meetings,  county  associations, 
and  able  to  pay  the  expenses  of  these  dele- 
gates, effective  county  organizations  and  co- 
operation will  be  secured.  The  county 
country  life  federation,  for  example,  will  be 
practicable.  Each  local  or  consolidated  rural 
district  association,  as  the  dairy  association, 
the  horticultural  association,  the  women's 
club  and  the  poultry  keepers'  club,  will  be 
able  to  send  a  delegate  to  the  county  federa- 
tion. These  different  local  organizations  will 
doubtless  also  in  many  cases  have  county 
associations,  as  county  dairy  associations, 
county  women's  clubs,  etc.  These  county 
organizations  will  also  naturally  be  repre- 
sented by  delegates  to  the  county  country  life 
federation,  where  all  the  consolidated  rural 


58  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

school  district  associations  and  the  county 
country  life  organizations  can  send  delegates. 
We  need  simple  systems  of  country  life 
organization  and  of  church  organization. 
The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  with 
its  center  at  the  county  seat  is  building  up  an 
effective  scheme  of  cooperative  work  and 
promises  to  become  a  great  power  in  many 
counties.  It  is  suggested  that  around  some 
similar  plan  of  organization  the  country 
church  can  be  so  organized  that  it  will  thrive. 
It  may  be  that  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  will  be  able  to  help  federate  all 
churches  in  the  county,  or  at  least  to  have  a 
representative  federation  based  on  all  the 
churches  in  the  county,  with  which  federation 
local  country  union  churches  may  have  their 
primal  ecclesiastical  connection.  Some  such 
scheme  can  doubtless  be  worked  out  so  that 
we  may  have  in  the  country  union  churches 
which  may  have  a  church  relation  to  all  the 
people  in  the  rural  community.  Our  present 
system  of  church  organization  makes  church 
union  very  awkward  and  too  often  tempo- 
rary. If  the  denominational  state  and  federal 
bodies  would  deal  fairly  with  the  rural  com- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  59 

munity  let  them  federate  their  rural  church 
denominational  interests.  Possibly  this  can 
be  done  through  some  sort  of  a  county  de- 
nominational federation  which  will  serve  as 
an  ecclesiastical  holding  company,  to  borrow 
a  phrase  from  the  business  world. 

Dr.  Hobart  : 

I  have  no  hostility  to  sociological  teaching 
in  seminaries  provided  it  is  based  on  the  New 
Testament.  I  teach  it  myself.  Our  confer- 
ence today  is  in  reference  to  country  churches. 
I  doubt  very  much  whether  we  shall  make  any 
progress  if  we  say  any  outside  organization 
is  competent  to  make  them  do  their  work 
right.  Our  inquiry  is,  what,  as  country 
churches,  can  they  do  on  the  basis  of  their 
constitution  and  in  line  with  their  work? 
What  religious  service  is  needed?  First,  the 
New  Testament  teaches  us  that  our  Saviour 
prayed  that  we  may  all  be  one.  We  all  feel 
that  it  is  wrong  to  be  divided.  We  should 
inquire  earnestly  whether  the  differences  are 
vital;  whether  they  are  such  that  we  cannot 
maintain  the  Sabbath  together  or  lie  down 
together  in  the  cemetery.     I  belong  to  one  of 


60  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

those  narrow  churches,  supposed  by  some  of 
you  to  be  the  most  narrow  of  all  denomina- 
tions, the  Baptist.  I  have  been  active  for 
several  years  in  this  business.  The  last  five 
years  I  have  been  hard  at  work  helping  to 
get  Baptists  and  Free  Baptists  together.  We 
have  succeeded  in  the  formal  work.  It  will 
be  a  good  while  before  all  will  get  together  in 
some  places,  but  it  is  decreed  and  will  come. 
No  new  "Free"  Baptist  churches  will  be 
formed,  nor  any  "regular"  ones,  but  all  are 
Baptists.  I  did  not  have  anything  to  do  with 
creating  the  spirit  of  union.  It  existed.  I 
was  simply  the  channel  through  which  the 
great  movement  acted,  all  I  had  to  do  was  to 
adjust  matters  so  that  they  ran  smoothly. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  wisdom  in  the 
way  these  questions  are  stated.  We  cannot 
get  rid  of  federation  and  ultimate  consolida- 
tion. If  you  believe  in  these  things  you  must 
consolidate.  But,  of  course,  we  meet  diffi- 
culties. How  shall  we  overcome  them? 
There  are  financial  difficulties.  I  was  pastor 
of  a  church  that  had  a  building  costing 
$160,000.  The  articles  of  faith  were  in- 
corporated in  the   deeds.     We  will   get  to- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  61 

gether,  not  by  denying  the  other  fellow  his 
right,  but  by  saying,  "Let  us  have  a  platform 
broad  enough  and  high  enough  for  all  to 
stand  on  without  any  man  giving  up  his  con- 
victions." We  can  never  confederate  well 
until  we  stand  on  a  common  platform. 

Dr.  E.  B.  Sanford: 

There  is  a  man  in  this  audience  who  has 
achieved  remarkable  results  in  federating  the 
Christian  forces  of  a  rural  community.  Four 
or  five  years  ago  Mr.  Wells  graduated  from 
Drew  Seminary.  He  began  work  up  in  Ver- 
mont In  a  mountain  town  where  conditions 
were  discouraging.  He  found  there  three 
churches  not  one  of  them  able  to  support  a 
pastor  and  all  asking  for  outside  aid.  With 
rare  wisdom  and  tact  he  secured  the  interest 
of  the  members  of  these  churches  In  con- 
sidering the  advisability  of  uniting  their 
forces.  Articles  were  drawn  up  and  agree- 
ments were  made  by  which  they  came  to- 
gether. By  unanimous  decision  inasmuch  as 
the  Baptist  church  was  the  largest  in  re- 
sources and  membership,  the  others  came  and 
gathered  around  it,  under  a  simple  but  effec- 


62  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

tive  plan  of  affiliation,  and  today  that  church 
is  in  a  real  sense  a  prosperous  community 
church  in  the  town  of  Lincoln.  What  has 
been  done  there  can  be  done  elsewhere. 

Rev.  Edward  Tallmadge  Root  : 

An  example  of  the  need  of  community 
building.  In  the  rural  half  of  Rhode  Island, 
in  a  strip  twelve  miles  wide  next  to  the  Con- 
necticut line,  it  was  estimated  a  few  years 
ago  that  out  of  fifty-nine  church  buildings, 
only  nine  had  resident  pastors.  What  is  the 
secret  of  the  decline  of  that  region?  One 
reason  is  that  the  Rhode  Island  towns  were 
laid  out  in  big  rectangles  without  any  church 
center — mere  political  divisions.  The  church 
ideally  ought  to  be  the  center  of  a  community. 
The  churches  of  Western  Rhode  Island  are 
small  and  often  only  one  or  two  miles  apart. 
Denominationalism  has  failed  to  meet  the 
situation.  Only  by  cooperation  can  the  de- 
nominations meet  the  need  of  community 
building. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  63 

NOON  RECESS 

After  adjournment  of  the  morning  session 
the  delegates  became  very  much  Interested 
in  an  exhibit  which  the  International  County 
Work  Department  had  displayed.  There 
was  a  Country  Life  book  shelf,  which  in- 
cluded the  latest  books  on  various  phases  of 
country  life;  then  there  was  a  prolific  dis- 
play of  the  agricultural  press  covering  the 
entire  country;  there  were  a  number  of 
charts  showing  the  rural  aspects  of  various 
states  and  the  possibilities  of  organizing 
rural  life  as  It  is  being  pursued  by  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  Photographs 
of  rural  play  picnics  and  athletics;  printed 
matter  from  the  departments  at  Washing- 
ton; census  department  reports  and  exten- 
sion bulletins  from  the  various  agricultural 
colleges  helped  to  make  this  exhibit  most 
illuminating.  There  was  a  conference  pho- 
tograph taken  on  the  roof  of  the  building, 
after  which  the  delegates  joined  in  an  In- 
formal but  most  profitable  noontime  lunch- 
eon at  the  Park  Avenue  Hotel  with  Dr.  Mc- 
Alpin  as  their  host.     The  very  informality 


64  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

of  It  did  much  to  acquaint  the  delegates  one 
with  the  other. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION 
Prof.  James  McConaughy  offered  prayer. 

COOPERATION  AND  INTEGRATION 

OF  COMMUNITY  INSTITU- 

TIONS 

Dr.  Kenyon  L.  Butterfield  : 

Two  problems  are  suggested  by  this  topic, 
"Cooperation  and  Integration  of  Country 
Community  Institutions."  The  first  problem 
is  that  of  the  integration  of  the  church.  I 
suppose  that  theoretically  this  ought  not  to 
be  a  problem;  the  church  ought  to  present  a 
united  front.  But  practically,  of  course,  this 
unity  is  a  crying  need  of  most  rural  com- 
munities. I  know  of  no  better  statement  of 
this  problem  than  that  made  by  Mr.  Root  of 
the  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  Federa- 
tions of  Churches — "consolidation  some- 
where, cooperation  everywhere."  In  this 
matter  of  "cooperation  everywhere,"  which 
probably  for  the  next  generation  will  be  the 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  65 

more  Important  of  these  two  phases  of 
church  Integration  (because  the  consolidation 
of  churches  is  bound  to  move  rather  slowly 
when  we  look  at  the  country  as  a  whole),  we 
must  call  both  for  a  pretty  definite  program 
of  country  church  work,  and  a  pretty  definite 
program  of  cooperation  among  churches. 
The  time  has  arrived  when  some  church  body, 
or  some  conference  made  up  of  representa- 
tives of  church  bodies,  ought  to  make  a  care- 
ful study  of  the  needs  and  conditions  in  our 
average  rural  communities  in  America,  for 
the  purpose  of  outlining  in  a  general  way,  a 
practical  plan  of  cooperation  among  country 
churches.  Our  country  church  work  awaits 
just  that  sort  of  program.  There  are  plenty 
of  men  who  are  coming  to  see  this  need. 
There  are  many  who  see  the  need  who  do 
not  quite  know  what  to  do.  Let  me  say,  too, 
that  we  need  a  new  spirit  in  many  communi- 
ties— a  real  spirit  of  cooperation. 

The  second  problem  of  Integration  Is  the 
problem  of  bringing  together  Into  a  coopera- 
tive work  the  various  Institutions  and  forces 
of  the  community.  Now  for  this  three  things 
are  necessary.     First,   we  ought  to  have   a 


66  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

definition,  that  may  be  fairly  well  accepted 
by  workers  in  country  communities  whether 
in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  of  the  prime  func- 
tion of  each  one  of  the  institutions  of  com- 
munity life.  This  function  ought  to  be  de- 
fined in  terms  of  the  community  life. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  discussion 
in  the  past  ten  years  about  the  social  function 
of  the  school.  Yet  we  are,  I  think,  still  lack- 
ing a  sufficient  definition  of  the  function  of 
the  rural  school  expressed  in  terms  of  the 
community  aim,  and  expressed  in  such  a  way 
that  there  may  easily  follow  a  program  for 
that  school  expressing  the  community  func- 
tion. With  other  social  institutions  like  the 
church  it  is  the  same,  even  including  the 
family.  We  are  in  great  need  in  this  country 
of  an  institution  or  institutions  which  have 
for  their  definite  objective  the  study  of  the 
conditions  and  problems  of  farm  home  life, 
not  merely  the  matter  of  home  management, 
or  home  keeping,  but  the  fundamental  rela- 
tionships of  the  family  to  the  development 
of  a  better  community  life  in  our  rural 
regions. 

We  will  have  then,  first  of  all,  a  definition 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  67 

of  the  prime  functions  of  the  institutions  of 
the  rural  community  in  terms  of  the  commu- 
nity Hfe,  aim  or  spirit.  In  the  second  place, 
we  must  secure  a  real  federation  of  the  forces 
of  the  community.  Now  there  are  at  least 
three  ways  in  which  this  may  be  brought 
about.  It  may  be  done  under  the  direct 
leadership  of  some  one  institution  or  organi- 
zation. The  church  may  do  it.  The  county 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  may  do 
it.  In  some  communities  already  the  central- 
ized school  is  doing  it.  In  the  State  of  Wash- 
ington there  is  projected  an  institution  called 
the  Country  Life  School,  and  one  of  its  main 
features  is  to  bring  together  people  of  the 
community  for  all  sorts  of  purposes,  and 
consequently  to  integrate  the  institutions  of 
the  community  in  behalf  of  a  general  com- 
munity life.  It  may  be  that  the  rural  libra- 
ries in  some  regions,  as  in  some  towns  in 
Massachusetts,  may  be  the  integrating  force. 
That  is  one  way  to  bring  this  about. 

A  second  method  is  to  establish  a  new 
organization  (we  may  call  it  what  we  please) , 
but  it  will  be  an  organization  definitely  for 
the  promotion  of  the  social  life  of  the  com- 


68  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

munlty.  It  will  be  a  civic  league,  or  a  com- 
munity league,  an  institution  made  up  of 
individuals  who  may  and  very  likely  will 
represent  the  different  institutions  and 
agencies  and  associations  of  the  community, 
but  which  is  a  new  organization  entirely  dis- 
tinct from  anything  else,  and  which  attempts 
to  do  all  its  work  on  a  community  basis,  which 
sets  a  community  goal,  tries  to  improve  com- 
munity standards,  endeavors  to  develop  com- 
munity spirit,  and  seeks  to  give  common  direc- 
tion to  the  efforts  of  all  the  institutions  of  the 
community. 

A  third  method  is  to  bring  together  repre- 
sentatives of  existing  institutions  in  their 
representative  capacity  and  to  form  a  sort  of 
committee,  or  board,  or  league,  or  federa- 
tion, or  clearing  house,  made  up  of  accredited 
representatives  from  all  of  the  institutions 
and  agencies  of  the  town  or  community — 
whatever  the  community  elements  may  be. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  we  may  well 
expect  that  each  one  of  these  three  methods 
of  integration  of  rural  social  institutions  may 
be  utilized.  I  am  partial  to  the  last  one 
because,  theoretically,  the  ideal  is  not  to  mul- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  69 

tiply  organizations,  but  to  bring  together  the 
organizations  that  now  exist.  Moreover,  the 
idea  of  community  life,  the  definition  or  func- 
tion of  these  different  institutions,  is  simpH- 
fied  and  aided  by  this  representative  principle, 
this  principle  of  federation. 

Recently  a  criticism  was  made  of  this  idea 
by  a  foremost  social  worker  in  Massachusetts 
who  said  that  experience  had  shown  that  this 
principle  of  representative  federative  organi- 
zation was  not  practical  in  city  work.  Of 
course  our  work  in  rural  districts  is  yet  too 
new  for  us  to  say  whether  it  will  succeed.  In 
Massachusetts,  however,  we  have  two  or 
three  movements  based  on  this  principle  of  a 
representative  committee  made  up  of  dele- 
gates from  all  the  different  social  organiza- 
tions in  the  community.  I  think  that  as  a 
practical  matter,  however,  a  great  many  cases 
will  exist  where  the  church,  or  some  existing 
organization,  will  take  this  leadership  and 
will  do  the  work. 

The  third  suggestion  in  regard  to  this 
matter  of  integration  is  to  develop  a  com- 
munity program  and  to  secure  a  general  com- 
munity center.     We  need  to  preach  to  our 


70  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

people  in  the  country  the  Idea  of  community 
ideals,  community  standards  and  community 
purposes.  We  need  to  supplement  the  idea 
of  individual  responsibility  and  initiative  and 
success  with  the  idea  of  community  interests 
and  success.  Sooner  or  later  we  must  come 
to  have  an  institution,  a  building  (it  may  be 
the  church,  or  the  school,  or  the  town  hall, 
or  a  special  building) ,  but  we  need  something 
that  people  can  see,  a  place  where  they  can 
gather,  and  where  all  these  ideals  of  the  com- 
munity and  all  the  forces  that  make  for  inte- 
gration can  actually  meet  in  common  and 
there  discuss  and  plan  for  the  common  wel- 
fare. 

Dr.  William  H.  Allison: 

In  the  use  of  existing  agencies  we  want 
what  from  one  point  of  view  may  be  called  a 
new  institution,  and  yet  from  another  point 
of  view  is  no  new  institution  at  all.  We  are 
overworking  the  word  "new."  We  are 
speaking  about  a  new  theology,  new  Bible, 
new  this,  that  and  the  other.  Yet  may  I 
suggest  another  new  thing,  a  new  church,  a 
new  eccleslology,  and  I  believe  we  are  moving 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  71 

toward  It.  I  happen  to  belong  to  a  congre- 
gational denomination,  a  body  which  is  learn- 
ing a  few  things  through  experience  and  see- 
ing that  there  Is  a  larger  Idea  of  the  church 
that  Is  demanding  recognition  from  us.  It 
seems  to  me  we  are  drawn  together  through 
the  various  ecclesiastical  organizations.  We 
are  recognizing  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
a  local  community  growth.  We  are  also 
recognizing  that  there  is  the  church  universal 
that  is  not  merely  an  ideal  but  a  reality.  Now 
as  we  are  speaking  of  the  church  as  a  factor 
in  the  community,  how  are  we  looking  upon 
It?  As  being  merely  one  of  several  existing 
agencies  to  be  placed  alongside  of  the  school, 
grange  and  so  forth?  If  so,  I  think  we  are 
doing  an  injustice  to  the  church.  There  is  a 
larger  Idea  of  the  church.  What  I  would  like 
to  see  would  be  the  recognition  of  a  church 
that  is  not  to  be  placed  merely  alongside  of 
other  existing  institutions  in  a  local  com- 
munity, but  a  church  whose  religious  power 
and  efficiency  and  spirit  shall  transfuse  every 
Institution  that  exists  in  the  community.  It 
is  for  this  larger  conception  of  the  church  and 
this  conception  of  the  vital  relationship  be- 


72  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

tween  the  local  body  and  the  church  universal 
that  I  would  plead. 

We  have  been  speaking  of  individualism 
and  the  social  law  and  forces  as  though  they 
were  two  separate  things;  it  seems  to  me  that 
they  ought  to  be  fused  into  one,  though  we 
may,  for  purposes  of  discussion,  separate 
the  one  from  the  other.  When  we  come  to 
the  reality  they  are  so  united  we  cannot 
separate  them.  And  so  when  we  think  of 
the  various  forces  at  work  in  any  given  com- 
munity, let  us  bear  in  mind  that  there  is  a 
great  church  whose  spirit  must  transfuse 
and  infuse  the  whole  life  of  the  community. 

Dr.  E.  B.  Sanford: 

I  am  in  full  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of 
this  conference,  but  I  desire  to  say  a  word 
with  a  certain  sense  of  special  responsibility 
as  secretary  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America.  Just  a  word 
regarding  the  third  point  under  discussion, 
"Is  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
or  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America  the  agency  for  federating 
churches  and  institutions?" 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  73 

I  am  thankful  that  we  have  lived  to  see  the 
hour  when  nearly  If  not  quite  two  thirds  of 
the  evangelical  Protestant  church  life  of  the 
United  States  is  constitutionally  federated. 
Three  men  present  in  this  conference  are 
today  giving  their  services  at  this  time  in  the 
care  of  work  directed,  and  financially  sup- 
ported, by  this  official  council  of  the  churches. 

I  rejoice  in  all  that  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  has  accomplished  in  the 
interest  of  Christian  unity  and  cooperation. 
Let  us,  however,  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  the  church,  of  which  Christ  is  the  head, 
cannot  delegate  to  other  agencies  its  special 
mission  of  caring  for  the  spiritual  need  of 
every  community. 

I  am  glad  to  take  part  in  a  conference  like 
this  that  calls  us  to  consider  our  mutual  re- 
sponsibility as  well  as  the  limitations  of  our 
activities.  In  this  presence  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  affirm  my  conviction  that  the  Federal 
Council  officially  representing  the  churches, 
holding  to  evangelical  and  historical  Chris- 
tianity, should  be  the  chief  agency  in  federat- 
ing the  churches  and  affiliated  institutions.  I 
gladly  bear  testimony  to  the  aid  which  the 


74  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is  giving 
us  in  this  work,  especially  in  affording  the  use 
of  its  assembly  rooms  as  a  place  for  confer- 
ence and  business  meetings.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  secretaries  of  local  Associations  are 
in  a  position  to  render  most  effective  aid  in 
the  work  of  interchurch  federation. 

Rev.  W.  Russell  Collins: 

I  believe  most  heartily  in  the  Federal 
Council  and  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association.  I  am  not  much  in  sympathy 
with  the  great  outcry  that  is  being  made  for 
organic  church  unity.  I  believe  that  the 
church,  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  the  church 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  one,  never  will  be  divided. 
Christ  is  not  divided  and  the  church  is  not 
divided.  The  church  is  divided  into  families 
which  have  their  own  preference  as  to  mode 
of  worship,  and  these  families  do  sometimes 
get  one  into  the  way  of  the  other  in  the 
course  of  their  work,  and  to  prevent  that  is 
the  subject  of  our  discussion.  Illustrations 
sometimes  afford  solutions  of  problems.  I 
was  told  the  other  day  of  a  very  happy  solu- 
tion of  this  problem  in  a  little  town.     In  this 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  75 

town  there  were  three  churches,  Methodist, 
Baptist  and  Congregational,  and  In  the  course 
of  time  these  three  once  prosperous  churches 
lost  a  great  deal  of  help  and  became  weak 
and  faulty.  Finally,  a  Congregational  min- 
ister went  to  the  Congregational  church  to 
seek  retirement  and  ease,  but  found  more 
work  than  he  had  expected.  A  little  later  on 
the  Baptist  church  found  Itself  without  a 
pastor,  and  In  the  course  of  time  the  Metho- 
dist church  was  also  without  a  pastor.  Now 
these  three  churches  came  together  In  the 
conclusion  that  the  town  was  not  large 
enough  for  three  large  churches,  and  In  the 
spirit  of  the  Federal  Council  they  came  to- 
gether. They  concluded  they  would  adopt 
the  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  and 
use  as  the  house  of  worship  the  Baptist 
church,  taking  as  the  parish  house  the  Con- 
gregational church,  and  would  sell  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Methodist  church  and  turn  its 
funds  into  general  church  support.  There 
Is  a  solution  of  one  problem. 

Now  If  that  town  should  go  one  step 
further  Instead  of  using  the  Congregational 
church  as  a  parish  house,  would  adopt  the 


76  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association  and 
give  them  the  social  work  and  secular  duties, 
and  leave  the  church  to  minister  and  preach, 
we  would  have  the  ideal  state  of  church  com- 
munity. Organic  unity  will  never  come.  I 
doubt  if  it  ever  could  come  otherwise,  but 
federation  of  the  churches  in  this  manner 
answers,  I  think,  the  questions  we  are  trying 
to  solve. 

Prof.  E.  O.  Fippin: 

The  question  is  raised  by  this  conference 
as  to  whether  the  same  standards  which  are 
applied  in  city  organization  are  applicable  to 
the  country  organization  of  religious  work; 
if  the  same  principles  apply,  are  the  same 
methods  to  be  used?  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
same  principles  of  religious  teaching  are 
applicable  in  the  country  and  city,  but  that  the 
methods  of  operation  must  be  totally  differ- 
ent. 

One  coming  from  a  college  of  agriculture 
to  a  gathering  of  this  sort  would  not  presume 
to  discuss  theological  phases  of  the  question. 
I  am  here  because  the  problem  has  technical 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  77 

and  business  relations  different  from  those 
which  most  of  us  know  in  the  city. 

It  is  perhaps  the  function  of  the  agricul- 
tural college  man  to  call  attention  to  some  of 
these  limitations  in  rural  Christian  work 
which  must  be  taken  into  consideration.  We 
would  also  direct  attention  to  another  fact, 
which  we  are  inclined  to  overlook,  namely 
that  our  point  of  departure  should  be  the 
purpose  to  be  attained  and  not  the  perpetua- 
tion of  any  institution. 

The  functions  to  be  performed  in  country 
life  are  two :  one  of  these  is  economic;  it  must 
provide  for  the  physical  existence  of  the 
individual.  He  must  have  the  means  to  live, 
just  as  this  conference  rests  fundamentally 
upon  the  people  who  participate  having  funds 
to  enable  them  to  reach  the  place  and  some 
one  providing  these  quarters. 

The  first  factor  which  must  be  solved  is  a 
financial  one — that  of  giving  to  the  country 
man  more  adequate  maintenance. 

The  economic  difficulties  are  of  three  sorts, 
and  we  as  individuals  concerned  with  the 
rural  problem  must  take  these  into  account  in 
endeavoring  to  put  the  rural  residents  on  a 


78  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

more  Independent  basis.  First,  they  must  be 
able  to  produce  things;  second,  they  must 
have  a  market  for  their  produce  and  means 
of  reaching  that  market,  and  third,  there 
must  be  a  reasonable  margin  of  profit  from 
the  market  price,  above  cost  of  production. 
Until  you  have  these  fundamental  elements 
on  which  the  family  or  the  institution  rests, 
you  cannot  possibly  expect  to  have  an  effi- 
cient church  or  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation. While  prices  may  seem  good,  it  is 
pretty  definitely  settled  that  farming  as  a 
business  is  not  as  prosperous  as  it  ought  to  be. 
The  other  function  of  country  life  is  asso- 
ciative living.  People  must  not  only  have  the 
physical  necessities  of  life,  but  they  must  asso- 
ciate with  each  other,  and  they  must  have  cer- 
tain standards  of  honesty  and  outlook.  There 
is  an  ethical  problem,  a  life  problem,  a  social 
problem  involved.  In  the  country,  more  than 
in  the  city,  there  is  an  intimate  connection 
between  social  and  religious  affairs,  and  the 
purely  business  affairs.  One  cannot  be 
carried  on  independently  of  the  other.  One 
is  limited  or  assisted  by  the  other.  The  prob- 
lem of  deepening  the  religious  life  of  the 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  79 

country,  whether  in  young  or  old,  must  be 
linked  with  their  financial  and  social  better- 
ment. Our  system  of  technical  training  has 
been  deficient  in  not  providing  enough  for 
the  associative  functions  of  life,  and  the  de- 
velopment of  these  latter  has  been  largely 
controlled  by  the  physical  limitations.  The 
farmer  no  more  than  the  city  man  can  be 
reached  in  a  missionary  spirit — not  if  he 
knows  it.  Any  system  which  reaches  him 
must  show  its  sympathy  for  his  position,  and 
intelligently  help  him  to  better  his  physical 
life,  at  the  same  time  that  it  leads  him  out 
along  lines  of  greater  spiritual  activity.  The 
rural  social  worker  has  the  opportunity  as 
well  as  the  necessity  of  coordinating  these  and 
must  especially  recognize  the  business  end  of 
the  proposition  in  its  broadest  lines. 

Prof.  Edwin  L.  Earp  : 

The  problem  of  integrating  the  social 
institutions  of  the  different  rural  communities 
(discussed  by  Dr.  Butterfield)  is  going  to  be 
an  educational  problem  for  theological 
schools  and  agricultural  colleges  to  deal  with, 
for  these  institutions  have  within  their  halls 


80  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

of  learning  those  who  are  to  be  leaders  in 
community  life.  As  an  increasing  number  of 
men  from  the  country  are  going  to  college,  it 
seems  that  we  ought  to  recommend  that  many 
of  our  secondary  schools,  our  agricultural 
colleges  and  theological  schools  as  well  as 
the  universities,  should  have  courses  that 
would  embody  the  ideas  that  have  been 
brought  out  in  this  discussion,  as  to  how  we 
may  organize  a  social  center  that  would  be 
the  result  of  the  integration  of  all  these  social 
activities,  and  yet  maintain  the  integrity  of 
each  different  institution.  I  will  be  glad  as 
one,  if  somebody  in  authority  will  authorize 
me  to  do  it,  to  introduce  a  course  in  rural 
sociology  in  order  to  train  men  specifically 
for  this  field.  We  ought  to  send  somebody 
out  into  our  colleges  and  universities  to  call 
men,  or  to  give  them  a  motive  force,  to  go 
into  this  field  as  a  matter  of  life  investment, 
not  as  a  makeshift  to  get  into  a  bigger  church 
in  the  city,  but  to  stay  in  the  country  for  a 
lifetime  if  necessary  and  make  the  country 
church  a  paying  institution. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  81 

THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 
CHURCH 

Professor  Fiske  : 

I  realize  that  in  so  varied  a  company  as 
this,  with  every  important  stripe  of  theo- 
logical opinion  and  social  sympathy  repre- 
sented, this  subject  of  the  function  of  the 
church  is  a  very  delicate  question!  How 
significant  it  is,  that,  in  the  twentieth  century, 
Christians  are  still  debating  the  function  of 
the  church !  We  have  not  yet  settled  the 
question  as  to  what  is  "our  Father's  busi- 
ness." Some  of  us  here  are  high  churchmen, 
perhaps,  with  the  high  church  idea  of  the 
church  as  the  custodian  of  the  sacraments,  the 
sole  channels  of  divine  grace.  Others  possi- 
bly are  very  low  churchmen,  with  the  notion 
of  the  church  as  merely  one  sort  of  social 
service  club.  I  wish  to  avoid  both  extremes 
and  place  myself  frankly  on  the  broad  church 
basis.  Let  me  offer  as  a  working  definition 
of  the  church,  whether  in  city  or  country,  the 
primary  agency  for  human  welfare. 

No  amount  of  unfavorable  criticism  can 
refute  the   fact  that  the   country  church   is 


82  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

easily  the  most  essential  institution  in  country 
life.  Criticise  it  as  we  may  for  its  inefficiency, 
it  is  to  the  country  church  that  we  must  look 
to  save  the  country.  Even  though  it  may  be 
usually  a  struggling  institution,  inadequately 
equipped,  poorly  financed,  narrow  in  its  con- 
ception of  its  mission,  slow  in  responding  to 
the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  wasting  its 
resources  in  fruitless  competitions  and  often 
crude  in  its  theology  and  ineffective  in  its 
leadership — nevertheless  it  is  blessing  mil- 
lions of  our  people,  and  remains  still  the  one 
supreme  institution  for  social  and  religious 
betterment.  It  may  be  criticised,  pitied,  ridi- 
culed.    It  has  not  yet  been  displaced. 

I  think  Dr.  Anderson  is  entirely  correct 
when  he  says,  in  The  Country  Town:  "The 
community  needs  nothing  so  much  as  a 
church,  to  interpret  life;  to  diffuse  a  common 
standard  of  morals;  to  plead  for  the  common 
interest;  to  inculcate  unselfishness,  neighborli- 
ness,  cooperation;  to  uphold  ideals  and  to 
stand  for  the  supremacy  of  the  spirit.  In  the 
depleted  town  with  shattered  institutions  and 
broken  hopes,  in  the  perplexity  of  changing 
times,  in  the  perils  of  degeneracy,  the  church 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  83 

is  the  vital  center  which  is  to  be  saved  at  any 
cost.  In  the  readjustments  of  the  times,  the 
country  church  has  suffered;  but  if  in  its 
sacrifices  it  has  learned  to  serve  the  com- 
munity, it  lives  and  will  live." 

If  I  were  to  condense  diagnosis  and  pre- 
scription into  a  single  sentence,  I  would  sug- 
gest this :  The  country  church  has  become  de- 
cadent where  it  has  ceased  to  serve  its  com- 
munity; and  it  may  find  its  largest  life  again 
in  the  broadest  kind  of  sacrificial  service. 

In  all  life  problems  the  fundamental  matter 
is  personality.  We  have  repeatedly  dis- 
covered, in  our  discussions  today,  that  our 
fundamental  problem  in  this  whole  matter  of 
the  country  church  is  the  problem  of  leader- 
ship. Given  the  finest  kind  of  leadership,  the 
problem  would  solve  itself.  The  difficulty  is 
securing  and  training  the  right  sort  of  leaders 
for  the  country  churches.  On  the  average, 
they  are  far  from  adequate  to  meet  their  task 
today.  I  suggest  that  two  things  must  be 
guaranteed  before  you  can  expect  the  highest 
leadership  in  our  country  ministry.  These 
two  items  are  a  united  church  and  a  broader 
scope   for  the  church's  influence;  that  is,  a 


84  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

greater  leverage  for  the  country  minister,  a 
sufficient  opportunity  to  attract  our  strongest, 
finest  men.  Today  such  men  are  avoiding  the 
country  parsonages,  because  they  are  looking 
for  a  real  field  and  do  not  propose  to  get 
pocketed  in  a  hole. 

Subquestion  three  under  my  main  topic  is 
one  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  take  your  time 
for,  it  is  so  rudimentary.  Yet  it  is  essential. 
*'Is  the  country  community  better  served  by 
a  single  church  or  a  plurality  of  churches?" 
Theological  convictions  no  longer,  to  any 
extent,  separate  the  churches.  Wealth,  social 
standing,  differences  in  taste  and  tempera- 
ment as  well  as  mere  habit,  account  for  most 
local  church  affiliations  today.  City  condi- 
tions may  justify  this  for  the  present,  but  in 
depleted  country  sections  such  wasteful  split- 
ting up  of  meager  Christian  forces  is  a 
blunder  and  a  crime. 

The  argument  that  churches  need  the  stim- 
ulus of  competition  is  very  superficial. 
There  is  plenty  of  stimulus  in  their  big  task, 
as  soon  as  they  frankly  and  honestly  face  it. 
Anyway,  competition  is  not  "the  life  of 
trade."    It  is  always  wasteful,  compared  with 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  85 

the  economy  and  profit  in  consolidation  and 
concentration. 

If  in  union  there  is  not  strength;  and  if 
friction  means  increased  power,  then  several 
little  churches  are  better  than  one. 

If  church  rivalries  and  quarrels  are  needed 
to  promote  the  peace  of  the  community;  if 
three  church  buildings,  unattractive  and  un- 
painted,  and  bristling  with  mutual  hostility, 
are  more  impressive  in  the  warfare  with  evil 
than  one  adequate  church  home,  the  center  of 
the  united  faith  of  a  community;  if  three  half- 
starved,  poorly  educated  ministers,  silently 
pitied  by  everyone,  are  more  effective  than 
one  strong,  well-equipped  and  well-paid  com- 
munity leader,  everybody's  pastor — then  let 
us  have  not  merely  three  churches  in  place  of 
one;  let  us  have  as  many  as  the  trade  will 
stand!  The  argument  is  a  reductio  ad 
ahsurdum!  It  is  very  evidently  false. 
Blessed  is  the  country  community  which  has 
but  one  united,  self-supporting,  self-respecting 
church. 

It  is  needless,  however,  to  debate  such  a 
question;  for,  whether  we  like  it  or  not, 
country  church  federation  and  ultimate  union 


86  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

are  already  in  process  of  evolution.  Almost 
everywhere  in  rural  sections  you  may  observe 
the  process,  in  its  various  stages,  as  surplus 
churches  are  uniting  in  work  as  well  as 
worship,  alternating  in  the  use  of  buildings 
or  of  pastors,  yoking  with  neighboring 
parishes  temporarily,  getting  closer  together 
every  year,  until  by  judicious  elimination,  by 
fair-minded  arbitration  and  reciprocity,  and 
ultimately  by  the  grace  of  God,  they  awake 
to  discover  themselves  a  united  church. 
Federation  of  country  churches  is  in  the  air. 
You  cannot  stop  it  if  you  try.  It  is  an  in- 
evitable evolution  which  makes  for  modern 
efficiency,  like  the  consolidation  of  banks  and 
the  centralization  of  schools.  And  when  it 
comes  completely,  we  may  expect  a  higher 
kind  of  leadership  in  the  country  ministry. 
We  shall  also  need  a  broadened  scope  for 
that  leadership.  That  is,  a  broadened  con- 
ception of  the  function  of  the  church  itself. 

The  mission  of  the  church  is  to  propagate 
the  religion  of  Jesus  and  Christianize  the 
world.  Its  business  is  to  glorify  God  by 
following  the  Christ  In  the  service  of  men. 
As  the  executive  agency  of  the  Kingdom  of 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  87 

Heaven,  Jesus'  great  commission  to  the 
church  (Matt.  28:19)  defines  its  mission; 
and  its  charter  (the  inaugural  program  of 
Jesus  in  Luke  4:  i8ft.)  outlines  its  business: 
to  minister  to  the  vital  necessities  of  needy 
men.  Broadly  speaking,  every  work  for 
human  betterment  is  "our  Father's  business." 
The  church  is  the  primary  agency  for  human 
welfare. 

Need  I  emphasize  here  that  the  supreme 
function  of  the  church  is  spiritual?  It  stands 
in  a  material  world  for  an  unseen  God  and 
eternal  life.  It  must  furnish  spiritual  vision, 
spiritual  power,  faith,  hope,  love — those 
unseen  things  which  endure  forever.  It  must 
constantly  furnish  inspiration  to  tired  men 
and  weary  women,  for  the  living  of  their 
lives.  To  do  this,  the  church  must  furnish 
the  opportunity  for  public  worship,  in  sim- 
plicity, sincerity,  impressiveness  and  truth. 
It  must  perform  the  priestly  function  of 
mediating  between  God  and  men,  until  in  the 
holy  place  men  feel  the  hush  and  peace  and 
power  of  God's  presence  and  go  away  re- 
freshed and  inspired  for  life's  duties.  It 
must  bring  the  life  of  God  into  the  lives  of 


88  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

men.  It  owes  the  community  also  a  pro- 
phetic service,  bringing  a  genuine  message 
from  God  to  human  lives,  throbbing  with 
divine  sympathy  for  all  human  needs,  coura- 
geously challenging  the  man  to  whom  the 
vision  comes,  to  live  the  better  life,  and  offer- 
ing practical  and  immediate  help,  the  help  of 
Christ,  to  live  that  life.  The  spiritual  service 
of  a  vital  church  will  include  a  vivid  portrayal 
of  the  Christ,  His  person.  His  teachings.  His 
radiant  character,  His  saving  power,  the 
dynamic  for  life  which  flows  from  Him,  by 
union  with  Him,  into  every  life  which  accepts 
His  comradeship.    All  this  and  more. 

Yet  the  church,  particularly  the  country 
church,  seriously  errs,  which  interprets  its 
function  as  exclusively  spiritual.  Unless  man 
is  pure  spirit,  the  work  of  the  church  is  more 
than  "saving  souls."  Soul  and  body  are  in 
this  life  inseparable  and  interdependent.  A 
saved  man  must  be  redeemed  soul  and  body, 
in  mind  and  spirit.  A  religion  which  aims 
merely  to  save  a  man's  soul,  and  otherwise 
neglects  him,  is  superficial  and  fails  to  appeal 
to  a  whole  man's  manhood.  The  subtle  re- 
actions of  life  warn  us  that  the  soul's  environ- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  89 

ment  must  be  redeemed,  or  the  soul  stands 
little  chance  of  permanent  salvation.  Here 
is  the  nexus  between  individual  and  social 
redemption;  separate  them  and  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  is  a  remote  improbability,  unite 
them  and  the  Kingdom  comes.  In  so  intelli- 
gent a  body  as  this,  the  above  statement 
ought  to  be  a  mere  truism,  though  it  is  still 
challenged  by  the  narrow-minded. 

If  the  church  is  the  primary  agency  for 
human  welfare,  it  dare  not  deny  its  vital 
interest  in  and  ultimate  responsibility  for 
every  serious  human  need.  The  church  has 
lost  the  love  and  loyalty  of  men  just  in  pro- 
portion to  its  avoidance  of  this  broad  respon- 
sibility. 

But  it  must  not  be  hastily  inferred  that  the 
church  must  itself  attempt  to  do  everything. 
It  may  discharge  its  responsibility  directly  or 
indirectly.  Its  broadest  service  will  ever  be, 
as  in  the  past,  to  furnish  the  inspiration  and 
dynamic  for  many  secondary  agencies  for 
social  service  and  human  betterment.  But  it 
must  do  the  needed  work,  or  get  it  done.  It 
should  duplicate  no  machinery  or  effort,  but 
should  supplement  all  other  local  institutions 


90  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

and  perfect  their  service  by  its  own  service  of 
the  higher  life  of  the  community.  It  should 
be  the  climax  of  the  social,  educational,  phil- 
anthropic, cultural,  health-restoring,  peace- 
preserving  as  well  as  economic  forces  of  the 
community;  and  ideally,  it  should  federate 
them  all,  in  community  leadership.  Where 
these  forces  are  lacking,  it  should  assume 
these  functions  if  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity demands  it. 

The  country  church  must  not  simply  aim  to 
prepare  its  members  for  a  future  heaven.  It 
must  do  its  part  in  making  its  little  corner  of 
this  world  a  comfortable  and  respectable 
place  for  humanity  to  grow;  that  is,  it  must 
bring  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  here. 

I  believe  that  the  vital  function  of  the 
country  church  is  not  only  to  minister  to  all 
the  needs  of  men,  when  occasion  demands  it, 
but  to  lead  in  that  ministry.  Where  there  is 
only  one  church  in  the  place,  it  may  rightly 
exercise  the  broadest  kind  of  community 
leadership.  Where  there  are  several,  they 
simply  must  cooperate,  or  be  self-condemned 
and  forever  ridiculed  by  the  ungodly. 

The  larger  vision  of  the  church's  mission 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  91 

will  force  them  out  of  the  petty,  jealous  atti- 
tude of  mind  which  regards  every  other 
social  institution  as  in  competition  with  them. 
The  burden  of  the  task  of  saving  the  com- 
munity and  making  it  better  in  every  way, 
until  it  becomes  a  part  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  here  and  now,  will  so  weigh  upon 
them  that  they  will  gladly  welcome  two 
things :  the  most  cordial  federation,  and  ulti- 
mate union,  of  all  Christian  churches  in  the 
village;  and  hearty  cooperation  with  every 
welfare  agency. 

If  we  could  agree  upon  this  broad  interpre- 
tation of  the  function  of  the  country  church, 
we  should  have  no  serious  difficulty  with  the 
fourth  subquestion.  If  the  church  is  the 
primary  agency  for  human  welfare,  and  its 
scope  as  broad  as  the  vital  needs  of  men,  then 
every  country  church  might  well  adopt  this 
platform,  adapted  from  the  familiar  plat- 
form of  the  Open  Church  League : 

"Inasmuch  as  the  Christ  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto  but  to  minister,  this  church,  moved  by  His 
spirit  of  ministering  love,  seeks  to  become  the  center 
and  source  of  every  beneficent  and  philanthropic 
effort,  and  to  take  a  leading  part  in  every  movement 


92  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

which  has  for  its  end  the  alleviation  of  human 
sorrow  and  sufifering,  the  saving  of  men  and  the 
bettering  of  this  township  as  a  part  in  the  great 
Kingdom  of  God.  Thus  we  aim  to  save  all  men 
and  all  of  the  man,  by  all  just  means;  abolishing  so 
far  as  possible  the  distinction  between  the  religious 
and  the  secular,  and  sanctifying  all  means  to  the 
great  end  of  saving  the  world  for  Christ." 

In  other  words,  for  a  specific  answer  to 
subquestion  four,  I  should  say  without  any 
hesitation  it  would  be  entirely  in  harmony 
with  the  country  church's  proper  function  to 
undertake  to  promote  any  sort  of  work  for 
the  physical,  intellectual,  economic  and  social 
welfare  of  the  country  community,  which  is 
really  needed  and  is  being  neglected,  and 
might  be  done  by  the  church  directly  or 
indirectly.  But  I  would  emphasize  this  con- 
cise statement  of  Dr.  Anderson:  "The  insti- 
tutional expansion  of  the  church  is  proper 
only  when  the  social  outfit  is  defective;  then 
the  church  ought  to  fill  the  gaps." 

Most  churches  in  the  city  community  need 
not  undertake  institutional  methods,  because 
of  the  rich  social  and  philanthropic  equipment 
of    its    immediate    environment.       But    the 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  93 

country  sections,  with  their  meager  social 
equipment,  often  with  their  manifold  human 
needs  absolutely  unmet,  demand  the  broadest 
kind  of  brotherly  service  on  the  part  of  the 
churches,  for  the  common  good.  It  will  put 
a  heavy  burden  on  the  church,  already  stag- 
gering in  inefficiency.  But  It  Is  the  burden  of 
privilege,  and  I  have  faith  to  believe  that  the 
very  burden,  with  Its  vastly  broadened  chance 
for  real  leadership,  will  draw  strong  men  to 
the  country  pastorate.  So  long  as  nothing  is 
allowed  the  church  in  the  way  of  local  leader- 
ship except  the  cut  and  dried  routine  of 
preaching,  Sunday  school  and  prayer  meeting, 
with  nothing  to  vary  the  monotony  but  baked 
bean  suppers  and  funerals — so  long  we  must 
not  expect  our  most  virile  college  men  to 
enter  the  country  ministry  as  a  life  work. 
Yet  we  must  have  a  permanently  loyal 
country-ministry  for  life.  Nothing  less  will 
solve  our  problem.  With  a  broadened  scope 
for  manly  leadership,  already  possible  now 
in  many  places,  I  have  faith  to  believe  there 
is  a  real  chance  which  will  appeal  to  strong 
men.  Already  I  am  convinced  there  is  a 
better  opportunity  for  broad  leadership  in 


94  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

the  ministry  of  the  average  village  church 
than  in  the  average  city  church;  and  many 
of  the  least  attractive  pastorates  are  in  the 
little  one-too-many  city  churches  which  make 
so  little  impression  upon  the  life  of  the  city 
wilderness. 

In  detail,  then,  as  to  definite  suggestions  on 
the  above  principle.  Let  the  country  church 
(either  the  single  church  in  its  community  or 
all  the  churches  acting  in  federation  as  a 
close,  practical,  working  unity)  assume  as  its 
inherent  right  the  leadership  in  community 
building.  Let  it  coordinate  all  agencies 
already  working  for  human  welfare  and 
inspire  them  to  greater  efficiency.  Then  let 
it  study  thoroughly  the  local  needs,  resources 
and  defects,  and  plan  to  develop  neglected 
interests.  Let  it  plan  first  for  the  physical 
health  and  well-being  of  the  people;  insure 
against  contagious  disease  by  improving 
water  supply  and  sewage  and  setting  high 
standards  for  pure  milk;  enlist  in  the  anti- 
tuberculosis fight  with  a  campaign  of  intelli- 
gence which  is  often  as  much  needed  in  the 
country  as  in  the  city;  set  high  physical  stan- 
dards for  the  boys  and  young  men,  and  the 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  95 

girls  as  well,  with  simple  out-of-door  gym- 
nasium equipment,  if  needed,  and  competitive 
games  under  wholesome  leadership,  ensuring 
clean  sport.  A  shower  bath  connected  with 
the  church  heating  system,  as  in  Lovington, 
111.,  might  be  just  as  efficacious  as  a  baptistry. 
Closely  related  to  these  activities  are  the  girls' 
club  and  boys'  club  plans,  which  in  small 
churches  may  well  be  simply  extension  work 
of  the  Sunday  school,  without  any  additional 
machinery.  This  is  fundamental  work,  how- 
ever, and  Its  neglect  certainly  results  in  boy 
waste. 

Rural  Sunday  schools  must  and  will  ulti- 
mately be  developed  so  as  to  be  comparable 
with  the  local  day  schools,  and  be  recognized 
as  actually  educational  and  vitally  helpful. 
The  public  schools  themselves  may  easily  be 
vitalized  by  a  strong  personality  in  the  coun- 
try parsonage.  I  have  in  mind  a  vigorous 
pastor  who  exerts  a  splendid  Influence  upon 
local  school  ideals  by  meeting  weekly  the 
entire  force  of  school  teachers  In  the  town- 
ship In  a  club  for  Bible  study  and  literary 
Interests. 

The  church  may  wisely  furnish  the  commu- 


96  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

nity  a  high-class  lecture  and  entertainment 
course  during  the  winter  if  no  other  agency 
does  this.  Preferably  it  should  not  be  a 
money-making  course,  but  simply  and  ob- 
viously a  community-serving  proposition.  If 
the  right  sort  of  leadership  can  be  secured, 
the  country  church  should  undertake  a  defi- 
nite program  of  community  teaching  in  im- 
portant matters  of  country  economics  and 
sociology,  unless  in  some  adequate  fashion 
this  is  undertaken  by  the  grange  or  some 
other  secondary  agency.  The  opportunity 
is  infinite  for  genuine  enrichment  of  local  life, 
for  raising  new  community  ideals,  develop- 
ing local  pride  In  local  history  or  prospects, 
in  discovering  and  developing  all  unutilized 
resources.  In  introducing  up-to-date  methods 
of  agriculture,  adapted  to  the  soil;  in  arous- 
ing a  new  pride  in  home-keeping  and  village- 
beautifying,  in  stimulating  the  loyalty  of  the 
young  people  to  their  homes,  and  making  the 
older  people  more  contented.  One  country 
pastor  has  made  himself  an  expert  on  coun- 
try life  and  given  illustrated  lectures  on  such 
topics  as,  "Corn  and  Its  Culture;"  "Insects 
Injurious  to  Crops;"  "Milk;"  "Beef  Cattle;" 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  97 

^'Horses;"  ''Chickens;"  "Birds  and  their 
Economic  Value,"  etc. 

I  forbear  to  multiply  details  in  these  sug- 
gestions and  thus  limit  the  valuable  time 
which  should  be  given  to  general  discussion. 

Plenty  of  objections  can  readily  be  brought 
against  this  broadening  of  the  usually  narrow 
function  of  the  country  church.  Some  of 
them  are  doubtless  valid,  I  will  grant.  Few 
country  churches  have  yet  either  the  means 
or  the  leadership  for  such  extension  plans; 
and  under  such  circumstances  they  ought  to 
attempt  them  very  sparingly.  Clearly  they 
ought  rather  to  enlist  the  help  of  people  who 
can  do  these  things  effectively. 

Right  here,  in  my  judgment,  comes  the  call 
for  the  county  secretaries  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  They  are 
experts  in  rural  life,  many  of  them  college 
educated  men,  and  often  with  theological 
training  as  well.  They  understand  boy  life 
and  are  natural  leaders  of  boys  and  young 
men.  They  know  rural  sociology  and  eco- 
nomics and  they  know  "the  rural  mind." 
They  believe  in  the  country  and  propose  to 
do  their  life  work  in  the  country;  they  have 


98  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

no  desire  to  live  in  the  city.  Furthermore, 
although  they  are  deeply  earnest  Christian 
men,  they  are  free  from  sectarian  handicap 
and  in  the  midst  of  church  rivalries  they  are 
free  to  act  as  neutrals,  as  the  trusted  agents 
of  all  the  local  churches. 

Just  as  the  city  Associations  have  rightly 
relieved  many  churches  of  the  necessity  for 
doing  institutional  work,  likewise  the  county 
secretaries  can  plan  and  organize  and  exe- 
cute an  interdenominational,  non-sectarian 
campaign  for  righteousness  in  the  whole 
county,  in  physical,  intellectual  and  spiritual 
training  for  the  boys  and  young  men,  and  in 
economic  uplift  and  efficiency  as  well  as  in 
broad  social  betterment.  In  my  judgment 
the  very  best  leverage  upon  this  important 
matter  of  country  church  federation  and 
union  and  vital  efficiency  is  the  work  of  the 
consecrated  men  in  the  employ  of  the  county 
work  department  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association.  In  their  tactful,  considerate 
way  they  can  render  a  vast  service  to  our 
rural  townships  and  country  villages  in  inte- 
grating   community    resources    and    uniting 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  99 

Christian  forces  in  a  genuine  work  of  com- 
munity building. 

When  in  the  course  of  inevitable  evolution^ 
and  survival  of  the  fittest,  country  churches 
are  combined  and  united  in  a  single  church 
in  each  community,  then,  without  embarrass- 
ment, much  of  this  social  work  can  be  di- 
rectly undertaken  by  the  logical  and  respon- 
sible community  leader,  the  community 
church.  At  all  events,  there  is  nothing  to 
fear,  but  very  much  to  be  gained,  in  making 
the  church  actually  the  social  center  in  every 
community,  so  far  as  leadership  and  local 
resources  will  allow. 


Rev.  George  Frederick  Wells  : 

The  Country  Church  and  the  County  Work 

The  question  which  I  am  asked  to  discuss 
is  the  relation  between  the  county  depart- 
ment of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation and  the  country  churches  of  America. 

Let  us  at  the  outset  be  reminded  that  the 
United  States  has  probably  no  fewer  than 


100  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

80,000  country  churches  served  by  70,000  or 
more  Christian  ministers.  These  churches 
are  constantly  increasing  both  in  numbers 
and  in  the  strength  and  breadth  of  their 
work.  The  ministers  are  the  products  of  the 
churches  themselves ;  they  are  inspired  by  the 
Christian  faith  which  is  the  controlling  force, 
not  only  of  Christianity  but  of  modern  civili- 
zation; they  are  trained  in  hundreds  of  colle- 
giate and  post-collegiate  institutions  both 
civil  and  ecclesiastical,  and  they,  with  the 
churches  which  they  serve,  form  an  ever 
growing  agency  which  is  conserving,  stimula- 
ting and  multiplying  all  of  the  constructive 
factors  of  human  society.  The  modern 
movement  of  Christian  missions  and  church 
extension  is  the  world's  foremost  exhibition 
for  organized  human  uplift,  and  in  this 
mighty  propaganda  the  country  churches,  in 
spite  of  their  many  failings,  stand  in  the  front 
ranks. 

In  the  second  place  is  the  county  work  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
The  modern  church,  in  doing  so  well  her  ser- 
vice of  keeping  clear  the  channels  for  the 
growth  of  the  Christian  spirit,  is  producing 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  101 

year  by  year  an  increasing  group  of  young 
men  who  in  observance  of  the  Christian  view- 
point are  seeking  for  American  life  an  en- 
during rural  base  and  are  associating  them- 
selves in  what  we  call  the  county  work.  The 
county  department  is  an  association  of  Chris- 
tian men,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  discover, 
enlist,  train,  and  use  strong  leadership  in  the 
development  of  non-urban  counties.  Their 
association  makes  special  recognition  of  the 
county  as  the  most  favorable  sociological 
unit  of  organization  and  expert  cultivation. 
At  the  present  time  sixty  men  are  employed 
to  give  control  to  this  work  In  almost  fifty 
counties  of  twenty  states  and  provinces. 
The  county  workers  are  the  sons  of  the 
churches.  As  sons  they  are  more  than  chil- 
dren or  adolescents.  Since  they  have  re- 
fused to  be  dependents,  learners  and  follow- 
ers in  every  sense  in  order  to  be  providers, 
teachers,  and  leaders,  we  judge  that  they 
have  passed  their  majority.  They  are  men 
and  boys  working  especially  for  men  and 
boys.  They  do  not  assume  the  prerogatives 
of  teaching  theology  or  of  providing  the 
sacraments.      They    cannot    propagate    the 


102  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

churches  as  such.  Neither  can  they  be 
classed  among  the  fundamental  social  insti- 
tutions. They  are  the  churches  working  in- 
directly. The  county  work  is  doing  nothing 
that  the  churches  cannot  do  and  in  many 
places  are  not  doing  directly.  The  county 
work,  therefore,  must  be  classed  among  the 
voluntary  associations  which  seek  to  supple- 
ment the  church,  or,  where  the  churches  are 
very  deficient,  to  act  as  temporary  substitutes 
for  them. 

Prof.  Alexander  R.  Merriam: 

One  thing  to  be  emphasized  is  that  the 
matter  of  personality  lies  at  the  very  center 
of  the  problem.  If  we  can  get  the  men  into 
these  churches,  the  thing  will  move.  I  want 
to  add  one  other  word  to  personality;  that 
is  "hope."  We  have  got  to  enter  into  this 
work  with  hope.  There  are  facts  that  dis- 
courage us  and  there  are  facts  that  encour- 
age us.  A  great  deal  is  doing  as  well  as  be- 
ing done.  Here  is  a  man  who  has  been  long 
in  one  country  parish  in  Connecticut,  with  a 
church  doubling  in  membership.  Another 
man  forty  years  in  his  parish  with  a  church 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  103 

membership  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five 
has  fifty-one  men  who  can  lead  in  prayer 
in  his  prayer  meeting.  There  are  things  of 
this  kind  going  on  the  country  over.  Let  us 
realize  the  fact  that  we  have  got  to  have  in 
these  communities  the  right  kind  of  personal- 
ity and  when  the  time  comes  for  federation, 
that  man  can  afford  to  stay  in  the  parish 
then,  and  we  shall  have  personality  that  can 
solve  this  problem.  Then  things  will  move. 
Now,  remember  that  things  are  moving  al- 
ready by  personality  that  has  stayed  long 
enough  in  its  field.  With  momentum  in  the 
future,  what  cannot  be  done  in  the  churches 
of  Christ? 

Rev.  Owen  H.  Gates  : 

Whenever  I  think  of  the  country  church 
it  is  not  of  the  country  church  in  general,  it 
is  a  particular  country  church.  I  find  myself 
closing  my  eyes  to  generalities  and  looking 
at  some  particular  church  which  possesses  a 
personality  of  its  own.  It  is  not  to  be  studied 
in  the  abstract.  And  it  is  not  a  peculiar  type 
of  church.  Its  problems  involve  the  whole 
problem  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


104  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Our  theologies  are  built  many  stories  high 
as  we  build  our  cities.  In  them  we  discuss 
sin  and  the  social  problems  of  life  in  many 
stories,  partly  above  ground  and  partly 
below,  but  we  do  not  get  many  stations  out 
into  the  country  before  this  many-story 
structure  comes  down,  and  up,  to  the  ground 
floor.  The  sin  that  had  been  several  base- 
ments deep  under  ground  comes  to  the  sur- 
face again,  and  we  have  to  deal,  not  now 
with  sin  and  the  plan  of  redemption,  but  with 
the  sinner  to  be  redeemed  and  transformed 
to  a  saint.  It  all  resolves  itself  into  a  ques- 
tion of  personality.  I  cannot  think  of  the 
country  problem  as  a  Problem  with  a  big 
initial  letter.  It  is  a  local  affair,  and  a  per- 
sonal affair.  As  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the 
country  and  the  needs  of  the  country  church, 
we  are  getting  back  to  the  essential  needs  of 
the  church  as  a  whole,  to  the  very  essence  of 
Christianity. 

When  we  are  describing  the  function  of 
the  country  church  we  are  simply  describing 
the  function  of  the  church  as  such.  It  is  the 
complex  organization  of  the  city  which  is  the 
departure  from  the  norm.     I  feel  most  in- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  105 

cited  to  personal  Christian  service  when  I 
consider  the  problems  and  possibilities  of 
such  service  in  connection  with  the  country- 
church. 

Moreover,  I  wish  we  could  get  over  the 
idea  that  this  or  that  unpleasant  feature  of 
country  life  and  work  constitutes  a  limitation 
to  the  service  there.  Is  the  load  on  the 
wagon  a  difficulty  that  the  horse  has  to 
reckon  with?  Is  the  train  of  cars  the  limita- 
tion of  the  locomotive?  It  is  rather  Its  task. 
Country  conditions  constitute  the  task  of  the 
church.  It  must  not  only  try  to  reach  the 
drunkard  by  the  roadside,  but  must  convert 
the  deacon  who  stands  In  the  way  of  progress 
to  an  active  cooperation  In  the  aggressive 
work  needed.  These  "hindrances"  are  a  part 
of  our  work,  and  we  must  renew  our  courage 
as  we  confront  them. 

With  regard  to  the  seminaries,  I  think  our 
theologies  would  be  clearer  and  simpler  If 
we  could  formulate  them  with  our  minds 
upon  the  simplicity  and  plainness  of  country 
Christians ;  with  this  or  that  person,  or  group, 
on  our  hearts  waiting  to  be  fed  from  the  gos- 
pel message  which  is  to  be  brought  to  them, 


106  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

if  at  all,  by  the  students  whom  we  are  going 
to  send  out  to  those  fields. 

The  seminaries  are  considering  these 
questions  which  are  being  discussed  today. 
We  are  earnest  and  serious  here,  but  if  you 
want  earnestness  of  discussion,  and  loyalty 
to  the  cause  of  the  Master,  if  you  want  to 
understand  how  men  wrestle  with  these  prob- 
lems through  the  years,  listen  to  the  discus- 
sions in  our  theological  seminaries.  The 
problems  are  not  discovered  in  such  confer- 
ences as  these.  We  have  been  studying 
them,  and  propose  to  study  them  until  some 
solution  is  reached.  When  the  real,  essential 
need  is  discovered,  you  will  find  the  semi- 
naries ready  to  meet  it,  even  if  they  have  not 
already  anticipated  your  finding.  Certainly 
we  are  ready  to  use  all  our  resources  upon 
these  problems,  which  are  so  fundamental  to 
the  interests  of  the  Christian  church. 

Dr.  F.  E.  Emrich: 

Here  is  something  about  the  work  as  it 
comes  to  us  in  Massachusetts.  As  Congre- 
gationalists  we  have  one  hundred  and  sixty- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  107 

five  home  missionary  churches.  A  word  for 
the  theological  seminaries.  Professor  Gates 
Is  librarian  of  Andover  Seminary.  There  are 
over  2000  books  at  the  disposal  of  every 
country  minister  in  Massachusetts,  to  be 
taken  out  for  four  or  six  months,  the  newest 
and  best  books,  and  he  has  but  to  pay  the  car- 
riage one  way.  Last  year  2500  books  were 
distributed.  The  average  country  minister 
does  some  reading  and  thinking  for  himself. 
The  country  minister  in  Massachusetts 
does  something  for  the  library.  In  the  par- 
sonage. In  the  chapel,  In  the  vestry,  we  have 
our  branch  libraries.  We  have  a  public 
library  in  every  town  In  Massachusetts.  We 
have  four  Institutions  in  the  old  Common- 
wealth: town  meeting,  country  meeting- 
house, consolidated  school,  and  public  library. 
In  one  little  town  on  the  Cape,  where  there 
are  nine  little  villages,  there  are  nine  public 
libraries  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  town. 
In  regard  to  the  church  and  county  work,  we 
are  doing  something.  Here  are  four  towns : 
Otis,  Monterey,  Sandlsfield  and  Becket.  We 
would  like  to  put  In  a  young  man  who  can 
preach,  pay  him  $1000  a  year  and  parsonage 


108  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

and  have  him  superintend  the  county  work 
of  the  surrounding  towns.  He  would  do  just 
what  a  school  superintendent  is  doing  in 
Massachusetts.  He  goes  once  in  two  weeks 
to  the  teacher  to  help  her  out.  Our  worker 
would  take  up  these  towns  and  help  the  pas- 
tor, giving  him  expert  advice.  I  think  we 
may  do  this  in  time. 

The  boy  in  the  country  is  a  chief  prob- 
lem. We  want  a  young  man  who  is  able  to 
help  the  pastor  to  meet  the  boy  problem. 
How  are  we  to  get  them  together?  As  has 
been  said,  it  is  ultimately  a  question  of  per- 
sonality. Make  the  minister  everywhere  a 
resourceful  man.  Give  him  power  to  over- 
come loneliness  by  love  of  books.  Give  him 
all  the  knowledge  you  can.  Then  he  should 
be  the  community  leader.  You  are  not  to 
judge  the  church's  power  In  the  community 
by  church  attendance  alone.  The  pastor 
must  be  pastor  of  every  home  in  the  commu- 
nity. Three  or  four  times  a  year  he  should 
go  in  with  a  bit  of  the  Word,  a  bit  of  prayer 
and  thus  make  the  whole  parish  feel  the  in- 
fluence of  the  minister.  All  the  work  is  not 
done  in  the  church. 


community  betterment  109 

Mr.  Richard  C.  Morse: 

Just  a  word  regarding  this  matter  of  per- 
sonality that  has  been  referred  to  and  its 
relation  to  the  county  work  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  The  relation 
is  a  very  vital  one.  The  path  of  the  Associa- 
tion into  the  county  work  was  opened  in  re- 
sponse to  a  demand  for  qualified  personality 
in  our  work  among  country  young  men.  In 
the  early  decades  of  our  history  the  perma- 
nency of  the  country  Association  was  a  diffi- 
cult problem.  For  many  years  we  called  it  the 
insoluble  problem.  But  the  record  of  the 
country  Association  was  fruitful  in  the  story 
of  young  men  reclaimed.  Many  personali- 
ties of  power  and  efficiency  in  our  work  were 
traced  back  to  the  country  Association. 
There  was  never  for  a  moment  doubt  in  our 
minds  that  we  had  need  of  the  country  Asso- 
ciation and  the  country  community  had  need 
of  us,  but  owing  to  incessant  emigration  of 
its  volunteer  workers  the  country  Association 
without  a  secretary  to  enlist  new  workers 
was  liable  to  great  fluctuation.  One  of  our 
leading    supervisory    secretaries    said    years 


110  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

ago  that  he  had  learned  to  look  with  resig- 
nation upon  the  death  of  country  Associa- 
tions. First,  because  he  knew  they  would 
rise  again;  second,  because  of  the  fruitage 
yielded  by  those  Associations  though  they 
might  temporarily  pass  away. 

When  Robert  Weidensall  conceived  of  the 
county  secretary  he  conceived  of  a  personal- 
ity solution  of  the  problem  of  the  country 
Association.  It  was  along  the  pathway  of 
a  search  for  the  county  secretary  and  the 
personality  represented  by  that  office  that  we 
have  been  developing  the  county  or  rural 
work  of  the  Association.  This  work  is  yet 
in  its  very  infancy,  only  fifty  counties  being 
as  yet  organized.  In  our  city  work  we  had 
the  same  problem  half  a  century  ago.  The 
question  then  was.  Can  we  get  secretaries  of 
qualification  for  the  city  Associations? 

I  was  once  asked  whether  the  city  of 
Buffalo  was  a  large  enough  community  to  call 
for  an  Association  secretary.  But  we 
worked  out  the  solution  in  the  city  work  on 
the  line  of  personality  and  we  are  now  try- 
ing to  work  out  the  country  problem  on  the 
same  line.     It  is  because  with  the  county  as 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  111 

a  unit  we  can  get  a  man,  that  we  make  the 
county  our  unit.  It  seems  to  be  the  smallest 
country  or  rural  unit  in  which  we  can  get  the 
qualified  man. 

Now,  as  to  the  relation  of  the  country 
Association  to  the  country  church.  Of 
course  it  is  a  subordinate  relation  always  if 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is 
true  to  itself  and  its  record.  The  develop- 
ment of  efficient  personality  for  the  county 
work  dignifies  work  in  the  country.  The 
county  or  rural  secretary  must  rank  with  the 
secretary  in  any  other  department  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  He 
will  give  that  dignity  to  Association  work  in 
the  country  which  is  one  of  the  things  that 
the  county  work  stands  for.  This  cannot  be 
happily  done  without  also  dignifying  the 
country  church  and  the  country  pastor.  The 
county  work  secretary,  therefore,  cannot  and 
must  not  be  regarded  as  substituting  or  rival- 
ing the  country  church  and  pastor,  but  as  a 
reinforcement  of  both  and  as  helping  to  bring 
in  the  church  and  pastor  that  the  country 
needs  in  order  that  both  may  come  to  their 
own  in  the  country. 


112  the  rural  church  and 

Rev.  Andrew  Campbell: 

I  am  still  in  the  country  church.  I  am  sat- 
isfied to  be  there.  A  brother  suggested  an 
economic  basis  which  he  believed  to  be  the 
fundamental  basis.  It  is  an  economic  ques- 
tion with  the  country  parson.  The  first 
question  under  the  third  topic  is,  "Is  the 
country  minister  getting  a  living  wage?"  I 
think  most  country  ministers  are  not  getting 
a  working  wage.  There  are  not  many  coun- 
try ministers  here  for  the  reason  that  they 
cannot  afford  it.  You  who  come  from  semi- 
naries or  from  other  institutions  have  your  ex- 
penses paid,  but  we  ministers  have  to  do 
without  some  things,  and  perhaps  borrow  the 
money.  We  can  live  on  $800  or  $1000,  but 
we  cannot  work  on  that  when  we  have  to 
put  a  good  percentage  of  it  back  into  the 
church  to  carry  on  the  work.  It  cost  me 
$2.50  last  month  for  postage.  There  is  no 
provision  made  for  that  in  the  country  min- 
ister's salary.  This  is  where  the  county  work 
helps  out  the  country  church.  It  comes  into 
the  town  and  it  supplies  a  great  lack.  It 
sends  a  splendid  speaker.  It  comes  .there 
with  its  secretary  to  help  us  out  along  social 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  113 

and  athletic  lines,  things  we  ought  to  be  do- 
ing. There  are  places  in  which  the  county 
work  and  country  church  are  not  mutually 
antagonistic,  but  where  they  are  cooperative. 
A  great  many  things  have  been  done  in  the 
past  year  that  we  could  not  have  done  had 
It  not  been  for  the  work  of  the  county  de- 
partment of  the  Association.  I  am  glad  to 
bear  this  single  word  of  testimony.  I  am 
also  glad  that  I  borrowed  the  money  to  come 
here,  because  I  shall  get  something  to  take 
back  that  will  be  worth  to  me  at  least  the 
price  of  two  books  for  next  year. 

Mr.  W.  D.  McRae: 

I  am  here  today  with  the  four  county  sec- 
retaries, all  we  have  in  New  Jersey,  first  of 
all  because  we  are  interested  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  the  country  church  of  Jesus  Christ. 
We  are  out  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  country 
church  first,  last  and  all  the  time.  The  man 
who  is  brought  up  In  a  country  community, 
as  I  was,  who  never  rode  on  a  railroad  train 
until  nineteen  years  of  age,  is  naturally  most 
interested  away  back  there  where  he  was 
brought    up.      The    thing   that   helped   him 


114  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

most  was  the  country  church,  of  course. 
Theoretically  we  never  organize  in  a  town 
unless  the  pastors  and  churches  want  us  to 
organize.  Practically,  we  organize  when 
pastors  oppose.  They  do  not  oppose  openly. 
It  is  the  ideal  basis  as  set  forth.  We  would 
like  the  cooperation  of  the  churches. 

The  last  three  months  I  have  put  in  a 
great  deal  of  time,  trying  to  get  the  churches 
in  a  certain  town  in  a  certain  county  of  New 
Jersey  to  do  the  work  that  ought  to  be  done. 
The  county  secretary  and  myself  met  a  group 
of  boys  who  were  asking  for  Christian  lead- 
ership from  the  Christian  men  of  that  town. 
I  tried  to  get  Christian  men  to  take  hold  of 
the  proposition.  The  boys,  from  fifteen  to 
seventeen  years,  met  without  Christian  lead- 
ership or  supervision.  You  can  imagine  the 
things  the  boys  did.  The  first  men  who  sat 
down  and  met  with  those  boys  were  the 
county  secretaries  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  We  have  been  work- 
ing hard  for  twelve  months.  We  say  we 
must  do  this  work,  and  the  boys  ask  us  to 
do  it.  By  the  grace  of  God  we  are  going  to 
do  it,  if  not  officially,  then  unofficially. 


community  betterment  us 

Professor  Fiske  : 

In  closing  the  discussion  I  wish  to  speak 
of  but  two  things.  First,  I  wish  to  challenge 
the  idea  that  there  is  any  real  mutual  antag- 
onism between  the  county  work  men  and  the 
country  churches.  It  would  be  unfortunate 
to  have  any  such  idea  go  forth  from  this  con- 
ference. Sometimes,  of  course,  there  is  a 
little  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  country 
pastors,  until  they  learn  more  what  the  county 
work  really  is.  And  sometimes  the  county 
work  secretaries  feel  obliged  to  go  ahead 
with  their  plans  without  much  church  coop- 
eration, but  this  must  not  be  called  antago- 
nism. 

I  presume  I  know  a  majority  of  the  county 
work  men  in  the  eastern  section  and  some  in 
the  Middle  West,  and  I  can  testify  to  their 
splendid  spirit  of  earnest  consecration  and, 
in  general,  to  their  tactfulness.  They  are  not 
rivaling  the  church.  They  are  all  church 
men  themselves.  To  be  sure,  they  love  the 
Kingdom  of  God  more  than  any  church;  but 
they  are  faithful  to  their  church.  I  met  in 
conference  ten  nights  ago  a  group  of  earnest 
county  work  men  in  Ohio,  where  the  work 


116  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

has  the  support  of  the  business  men  and  pro- 
gressive farmers  of  the  entire  county.  The 
county  work  secretary  was  a  member  of  the 
ministers'  union  at  the  county  seat,  and  sec- 
retary of  the  union.  And  he  surely  had  a 
right  to  be,  for  the  county  Association  work 
is  simply  a  specialized  form  of  country  min- 
istry. It  may  be  that  sometimes  there  is  a 
little  impatience  on  the  part  of  the  Associa- 
tion men  with  the  slowness  of  the  country 
churches,  but  there  is  no  real  antagonism. 
Just  as  our  city  Associations  have  learned 
that  they  could  not  consider  their  work  as  in 
competition  with  the  churches,  but  supple- 
mentary to  them,  likewise  I  think  it  is  true 
that  the  county  work  has  passed  through  the 
former  stage  and  is  now  everywhere  anxious 
to  cooperate  and  help,  and  not  to  antagonize. 
The  other  thing  I  wish  to  say  is  this: 
Representatives  of  at  least  fourteen  theologi- 
cal seminaries  have  been  called  to  this  con- 
ference; on  the  assumption,  I  presume,  that 
we  are  training  the  country  ministers.  We 
are  not.  We  are  training  the  city  and  the 
village  ministers.  The  rural  ministers  are 
seldom   trained   at    all,   particularly   In   the 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  117 

West.  Doubtless  we  should  not  expect  a  fully 
trained  man  to  live  on  a  rural  church  salary 
at  present.  There  will  surely  be  more  hope 
for  the  country  church  when,  by  closer  feder- 
ation and  union,  the  churches  are  able  to 
secure  and  support  stronger  ministers,  men 
who  can  afford  time  and  money  for  an  ade- 
quate training  for  their  profession.  Until 
then  the  seminaries  can  not  be  held  respon- 
sible for  the  shortcomings  of  the  country 
ministry. 

Dr.  Josiah  Strong: 

Brethren:  I  should  not  have  ventured  to 
say  a  word,  for  your  time  is  too  precious  for 
me  to  occupy.  I  have  a  great  fund  of  igno- 
rance on  this  subject.  You  are  in  direct  con- 
tact with  the  problem.  I  am  not.  You  have 
first-hand  knowledge.  I  have  second-hand 
knowledge.  I  have  been  compelled  to  miss 
your  discussions,  which  I  greatly  regret.  I 
must  express  my  very  great  gratification  in 
the  fact  of  such  a  conference.  I  have  been 
very  deeply  interested  in  the  country  problem 
for  twenty-seven  years,  and  such  a  confer- 
ence  as  this  would  not  have  been  possible 


118  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

twenty-seven  years  ago  and  many  years  this 
side  of  twenty-seven.  It  is  an  exceedingly 
encouraging  fact  that  such  men  as  are  gath- 
ered here  are  discussing  intelligently  the 
great  problem  of  the  country  church.  I 
would  like  to  emphasize  my  conviction  that 
there  is  no  occasion  for  discouragement. 
Is  not  everything  possible  in  the  Kingdom  of 
God?  The  salvation  of  the  rural  district 
is  not  to  be  accomplished  without  the  aid  of 
the  rural  church.  You  have  touched  a  great 
many  points  that  appeal  to  me  very  strongly 
Indeed,  and  if  I  had  been  here  I  should  have 
been  exceedingly  glad  to  have  participated 
In  their  discussion.  I  will  simply  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  I  have  in  my  hands  here 
an  article  written  by  Mr.  Wells  and  also  a 
very  valuable  bibliography  prepared  by  him 
which  you  are  welcome  to  so  far  as  they  will 
go  around. 

Prof.  James  McConaughy,  head  of  the  de- 
partment of  the  English  Bible  at  Mount 
Hermon  School,  gave  a  most  helpful  talk 
covering  his  experience  In  cooperating  with 
the  country  churches  In  the  neighborhood  of 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  119 

Mount  Hermon,  emphasizing  the  impor- 
tance of  continuous  service  of  a  pastor  or 
any  other  rural  leader  and  of  cooperative 
effort.  Professor  McConaughy's  address 
had  a  deep  spiritual  tone  which  brought  real 
inspiration  into  the  meeting. 


SUMMARIES  OF  DISCUSSIONS 

The  following  are  the  summaries  of  dis- 
cussions reported  by  the  several  gentlemen 
appointed  for  this  purpose  at  the  beginning 
of  the  conference : 

The  Teaching  of  Religion  in  the 
Country 

Dr.  C.  A.  Barbour 

The  gospel  is  good  seed.  It  is  not  always 
productive  seed.  Its  productiveness  is  con- 
ditioned by  the  soil.  What  of  the  soil  for 
the  seed  as  sown  in  the  rural  districts? 

Rural  civilization  is  in  process  of  recon- 
struction. It  gathers  about  four  centers — 
the  store,  the  school,  the  church,  the  family. 
All  of  these  are  out  of  repair. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  regard- 
ing character  and  life  conditions  in  country 
districts,  some  maintaining  that  personal 
morality  is  at  high  level  while  standards  of 
social  ethics  are  low,  some  contending  that 
the  standards  of  personal  morality  are  by  no 
means  ideal. 


122  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Certain  conclusions  find  general  agree- 
ment: 

1.  The  teaching  of  religion  in  rural  dis- 
tricts must  be  systematic  but  not  unwisely- 
divisive.  Emphasize  the  great  fundamental 
and  universal  phases  of  truth,  not  the  points 
of  difference. 

2.  Fit  leaders  are  necessary.  If  they  are 
country  born  and  equally  well  trained,  so 
much  the  better.  In  any  case,  they  must  find 
the  intelligent  and  sympathetic  point  of  view 
for  country  work,  if  they  are  there  to  succeed. 

3.  Greater  insistence  upon  the  teaching 
in  our  theological  schools  of  a  social  gospel, 
founded  on  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  the 
standards  of  the  New  Testament,  is  emi- 
nently desirable.  The  truest  social  gospel  is 
based  upon  revealed  religion  and  has  due 
recognition  of  the  supernatural. 

4.  The  coming  of  the  community  rural 
school  may  be  very  influential  in  the  location 
and  the  work  of  the  community  rural  church. 

5.  The  pastor  in  the  rural  districts 
should  enter  upon  a  course  of  systematic 
teaching  and  training  of  his  people,  minister- 
ing not  only  to  the  distinctively  religious  life, 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  123 

but  to  the  quickening  of  the  Intellectual  life 
as  well.  For  the  accomplishment  of  this  end 
the  minister  himself  must  be  a  man  of  spirit- 
ual and  Intellectual  resource. 

6.  The  multiplication  of  weak  and  strug- 
gling churches  In  any  community  Is  an  ob- 
stacle and  a  reproach  to  the  cause  of  reli- 
gion. The  chief  objective  of  such  multiplied 
churches  will  Inevitably  be,  or  become,  the 
effort  for  the  self-perpetuation  of  the  Indi- 
vidual church.  There  should  be  cooperation, 
which  will  eventually  lead  to  confederation 
and  consolidation  wherever  the  most  states- 
manlike policy  for  any  community  directs. 

Country  Church  Finances  and  Admin- 
istration 

Rev.  R.  H.  M.  Augustine 

1.  That  the  financial  support  given  to 
the  Christian  ministry  In  the  country  church 
should  at  the  least  be  equal  to  the  living  wage 
that  obtains  among  farmers  of  the  commu- 
nity. 

2.  That  as  the  lack  of  proper  support  for 
the  country  church  Is  due  not  so  much  to  in- 


124       THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

ability  as  to  the  lack  of  liberality  and  as  a 
more  generous  support  financially  is  not  only 
desirable  but  necessary,  appeals  for  increased 
support  that  would  be  instructive  and  states- 
manlike should  be  more  frequently  made. 

3.  That  local  independence  and  auton- 
omy in  finances,  in  government  and  in  deter- 
mining local  policies  be  encouraged. 

4.  That  it  is  vital  to  the  life  of  all  of  our 
country  churches  that  an  attempt  be  made  to 
adapt  the  work  of  the  church  to  the  need  of 
the  community. 

5.  That  the  work  of  the  agricultural 
colleges  in  supplementing  the  work  of  the 
seminaries  in  the  further  equipment  of  the 
country  ministry  be  approved  and  encour- 
aged. 

6.  That  the  church  and  country  ministry 
be  looked  upon  as  being  in  command  of  the 
forces  and  in  a  position  to  direct  the  move- 
ment for  community  betterment. 

Country  Community  Building 

Prof,  Ernest  Burnham 

Further  progress  in  country  community 
building  calls  for  a  more  adequate  provision 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  125 

through  institutions  founded  for  such  pur- 
poses of  men  selected,  specifically  trained, 
and  enlisted  for  life  in  rural  community  ser- 
vice. Native  talent  enriched  intelligence, 
tried  sympathies,  resolute  will;  in  short,  an 
individually  refined  and  a  socially  cultured 
personality — these  are  the  presuppositions 
of  a  leadership  equal  to  the  constructive  pro- 
gram by  which  the  new  country  community 
is  to  emerge  out  of  the  old  without  losing  the 
worthy  ideals  of  the  old. 


Cooperation  and  Integration  of  Coun- 
try Community  Institutions 

Mr,  D.  C.  Drew 

That  some  agency  is  necessary  to  coordi- 
nate rural  social  institutions. 

That  a  practical  demonstration  in  terms 
of  country  life  be  made  in  rural  communities, 
resulting  in  the  federation  of  all  the  uplift 
forces  in  the  community. 

The  federating  and  unifying  power  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is  recog- 
nized. 


126  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

The  economic  problem  and  the  associative 
problem  are  fundamental  to  all  progress  in 
rural  uplift. 

There  must  be  men  in  the  ministry  who 
are  loyal  to  the  country  and  thus  make  a  dis- 
tinct profession  known  as  the  country  min- 
istry. 

That  a  clearer  definition  of  the  community 
be  established  in  terms  of  country  life. 

SUPPLEMENT  BY  DR.   H.  B.  MacCAULEY 

We  call  the  attention  of  all  the  pastors 
and  churches,  especially  in  the  country,  to  the 
desirability  of  forming  interchurch  federa- 
tions in  all  the  counties  as  an  important 
means  of  carrying  into  effect  the  program 
outlined  at  this  conference. 

The  Function  of  the  Country  Church 
Mr.  R.  C.  Morse 

That  capable  leadership  of  the  country 
church  is  of  primary  importance.  That  the 
church  is  the  fundamental  agency  of  human 
welfare.  That  the  broadening  of  the  church 
is  necessary  to  its  maximum  of  service  to  the 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  127 

rural  community.  The  county  work  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is  sup- 
plemental and  cooperative  in  its  relation  to 
the  country  church.  Upon  the  personality  in 
its  leadership  and  upon  the  efficiency  of  this 
personality  must  depend  efficiency  in  the  work 
of  both  church  and  county  Associations. 

SUPPLEMENT  BY  DR.  T.   C.    HALL 

It  is  the  sense  of  this  conference  that  this 
county  work  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  seek  cooperation  with  the  Council 
of  Church  Federation,  asking  also  the 
authoritative  ecclesiastical  bodies  for  their 
aid  and  counsel. 

SUPPLEMENT  BY  DR.  H.  B.  MacCAULEY 

This  conference  would  welcome  some  kind 
of  official  cooperation  between  the  local 
Interchurch  Federation  and  the  committee 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
county  work,  and  to  this  end  we  recommend 
that  this  matter  be  forwarded  to  the  Federal 
Council  and  to  the  International  Committee 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
for  their  mutual  consideration. 


128  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

The  following  resolution  by  Dr.  H.  B. 
MacCauley  was  unanimously  adopted: 

That  the  thanks  of  this  conference  on  the 
country  church  held  at  the  International 
Committee  Building,  New  York,  December 
I,  19 10,  be  tendered  to  the  county  work  de- 
partment of  the  International  Committee  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  for 
the  holding  of  this  conference  and  the  ar- 
rangements of  the  program,  together  with 
their  splendid  hospitality,  all  of  which  things 
have  brought  us  closer  together  and  closer 
to  the  Master. 

On  the  evening  of  the  Conference  day  the 
annual  dinner  of  the  International  Commit- 
tee was  held  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria  and  a 
majority  of  the  delegates  accepted  Dr.  Mc- 
Alpin's  invitation  to  attend.  Two  of  the 
delegates,  Dr.  Butterfield  and  Secretary 
Hayes,  were  honorary  guests. 


LIST  OF  DELEGATES 

Ernest  H.  Abbott,  The  Outlook. 

E.    L.    Allen,    County    secretary    of    Westchester 

County,  N.  Y. 
Miss   Mary  L.   Allen,  National   Board  of  Young 

Women's  Christian  Associations. 
Rev.  William  H.  Allison,  Ph.  D.,  dean  and  pro- 
fessor, Ecclesiastical  History,  Colgate  Theological 

Seminary. 
Rev.  W.  L.  Anderson,   author  of  "The   Country 

Town." 
Rev.  R.  H.  M.  Augustine,  pastor,  Hanover  (N.  J.) 

Presbyterian  Church. 
Prof.  W.  B.  Bailey,  instructor  in  Sociology,  Yale 

Divinity  School. 
C.  A.  Barbour,  D.  D.,  secretary,  International  Com- 
mittee of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 
Miss    Helen    F.    Barnes,    National    Board   Young 

Women's  Christian  Associations. 
Wallace  Batchelder,  member  of  County  Committee 

of  Windsor  County,  Vt. 
W.     H.    Baxley,     county    secretary,    Westchester 

County,  N.  Y. 
John  R.  Boardman,  New  York. 
Miss  Elizabeth   Boies,   National  Board   of   Young 

Women's  Christian  Associations. 
Dr.  Charles  H.  Boynton,  professor  of  Homiletics  and 

Pedagogy,  General  Theological  Seminary. 


130  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

H.  S.  Braucher,  Playground  Association  of  America. 

Rev.  J.  Lee  Brooks,  pastor,  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  Anderson,  N.  J. 

F.  E.  Burgess,  secretary.  International  Committee 
of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Prof.  Ernest  Burnham,  director.  Western  State 
Normal  School,  Kalamazoo,  Mich. 

Kenyon  L.  Butterfield,  LL.  D.,  president,  Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural  College. 

Rev.  Andrew  Campbell,  pastor.  Orthodox  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Christ,  Groveland,  Mass. 

W.  J.  Campbell,  state  county  work  secretary  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Miss  Julia  F.  Capen,  general  secretary  of  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association,  Lakewood,  N.  J. 

E.  C.  Carter,  secretary.  International  Committee  of 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Daniel  Chase,  county  secretary.  Eastern  Delaware 
County,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  S.  C.  Coale,  pastor.  Union  Church,  Littleton, 
N.J. 

Rev.  W.  Russell  Collins,  D.  D.,  professor  of  Litur- 
gies and  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  Theological  Semi- 
nary of  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church,  Phila- 
delphia. 

William  Knowles  Cooper,  general  secretary  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Washington. 

Miss  Mabel  Cratty,  National  Board  of  Young 
Women's  Christian  Associations. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  131 

Miss  Caroline  B.  Dow,  dean  of  National  Training 
School  of  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations. 

Dwight  C.  Drew,  state  county  work  secretary  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Edwin  L.  Earp,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  Sociology  and 
director  of  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 

Dr.  Frederick  E.  Emrich,  secretary,  Massachusetts 
Home  Missionary  Society. 

Rev.  Charles  R.  Erdman,  professor  of  Practical 
Theology,  Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

Elmer  O.  Fippin,  professor  of  Soil  Technology,  New 
York  State  College  of  Agriculture,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity. 

George  J.  Fisher,  M.  D.,  secretary,  International 
Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tions. 

Prof.  G.  Walter  Fiske,  junior  dean,  Oberlin  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

A.  W.  Fismer,  Ph.  D.,  professor  Practical  Theology, 
German  Theological  Seminary. 

Rev.  George  C.  Foley,  D.  D.,  Jay  Cooke  professor 
of  Homiletics  and  Pastoral  Care,  Philadelphia 
Divinity  School. 

E.  L.  Fullam,  member,  County  Committee  of  Wind- 
sor County,  Vt. 

C.  A.  Gammons,  county  secretary,  Western  Dela- 
ware County,  N.  Y. 

P.  W.  Garrett,  county  secretary,  Monmouth  County, 
N.J. 


132  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

Prof.  Owen  H.  Gates,  librarian,  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

Rev.  F.  F.  German,  St.  Thomas'  Church,  Mamaro- 
neck,  N.  Y. 

C.  C.  Gerow,  member.  County  Committee  of 
Orange  County,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  C.  O.  Gill,  Hartland,  Vt. 

Guy  D.  Gold,  county  secretary  of  Rockland  County, 
N.  Y. 

Dr.  W.  A.  Granger,  president.  New  York  State 
Baptist  Convention. 

Thomas  Cuming  Hall,  D.  D.,  professor  of  Chris- 
tian Ethics,  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

Clarence  L.  Harding,  member.  County  Subcom- 
mittee of  the  Interstate  Committee  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  of  Maryland  and 
Delaware. 

Hon.  Willet  M.  Hays,  assistant  secretary.  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Ernest  J.  Hewitt,  member  Windsor  County,  Ver- 
mont County  Committee. 

C.  J.  Hicks,  associate  general  secretary  of  the  Inter- 
national Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations. 

Fred  M.  Hill,  state  county  work  secretary  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  New  York. 

Alvah  S.  Hobart,  D.  D.,  professor.  New  Testament 
Interpretation,  Crozer  Theological  Seminary. 

Arthur  S.  Hoyt,  D.  D.,  professor,  Homiletics  and 
Sociology,  Auburn  Theological  Seminary. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  133 

A.  C.  Hurd,  county  secretary,  Windsor  County,  Vt. 

Henry  Israel,  county  work  secretary.  International 
Committee  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Wayne  C.  Jordan,  county  secretary,  Sullivan 
County,  N.  H. 

Rev.  William  B.  Ladd,  Colt  professor  of  Church 
History,  Berkeley  Divinity  School. 

H.  B.  MacCauley,  D.  D.,  secretary.  Eastern  District 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America. 

Edgar  MacNaughten,  secretary.  International  Com- 
mittee of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

D.  Hunter  McAlpin,  M.  D.,  chairman,  Interna- 
tional County  Work  Subcommittee. 

Prof.  James  McConaughy,  Mount  Hermon  School. 

William  D.  McRae,  state  county  w^ork  secretary 
of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of  N.  J. 

Prof.  A.  R.  Mann,  registrar.  New  York  State  Col- 
lege of  Agriculture,  Cornell  University. 

Rev.  Paul  Martin,  registrar  and  secretary,  Prince- 
ton Theological  Seminary. 

H.  D.  Maydole,  county  secretary,  Camden  County, 
N.J. 

Prof.  Alexander  R.  Merriam,  Department  of  Homi- 
letics  and  Pastoral  Care,  Hartford  Theological 
Seminary. 

Lyford  A.  Merrow,  chairman,  State  County  Work 
Subcommittee  of  New  Hampshire. 

Hon.  A.  C.  Monahan,  Department  of  the  Interior, 
Bureau  of  Education. 


134  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

J.  Sterling  Moran,  county  secretary,  Addison 
County,  Vt. 

F.  S.  Morrison,  interstate  secretary  of  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  of  Maryland  and  Dela- 
ware. 

Richard  C.  Morse,  general  secretary  of  the  Inter- 
national Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations. 

Frank  W.  Ober,  editor  Association  Men. 

Rev.  G.  Phillips  Payson,  Katonah,  N.  Y. 

Thornton  B.  Penfield,  Ph.  D.,  secretary.  Interna- 
tional Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciations. 

J.  W.  Pontius,  secretary.  International  Committee 
of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Otis  B.  Read,  county  secretary,  Burlington  County, 
N.J. 

G.  A.  Reeder,  secretary,  International  Committee  of 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Albert  E.  Roberts,  county  work  secretary.  Inter- 
national Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations. 

Peter  Roberts,  Ph.  D.,  secretary,  International  Com- 
mittee of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

E.  M.  Robinson,  secretary.  International  Committee 
of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Rev.  Edward  Tallmadge  Root,  field  secretary  of 
the  Massachusetts  Federation  of  Churches. 

Allen  M.  Ruggles,  Columbia  University. 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  135 

Elias  B.  Sanford,  D.  D.,  corresponding  secretary  of 

the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 

America. 
Miss  Anna  Seaburg,  secretary,  National  Board  of 

Young  Women's  Christian  Associations. 
F.  E.  Shapleigh,  interstate  county  secretary  of  the 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of  Maryland 

and  Delaware. 
Rev.  William  Shedden,  assistant  librarian,  Princeton 

Theological  Seminary. 
F.  B.  Shipp,  secretary,  International  Committee  of 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 
Fred  B.  Smith,  secretary.  International  Committee 

of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 
Jefferson  C.  Smith,  state  secretary  of  Maine  Young 

Men's  Christian  Associations. 
C.  W.  Stetson,  county  secretary,  Greene  County, 

N.Y. 
Josiah  Strong,  D.  D.,  president,  American  Institute 

for  Social  Service. 
Ezra    S.    Tipple,    Ph.    D.,    professor   of    Practical 

Theology,  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 
James  F.  Turnbull,  American  Baptist  Home  Mission 

Society. 
Prof.   Robert  W.  Veach,   dean  of  Bible  Teachers 

Training  School,  New  York. 
Rev.  George  F.  Wells,  research  secretary,  Depart- 
ment  of    Christian    Sociology,    Bureau    of    Field 

Work,  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 


136  THE  RURAL  CHURCH  AND 

James  A.  Whitmore,  secretary,  International  Com- 
mittee of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Z.  L.  Wilcox,  county  secretary,  Orange  County, 
N.Y. 

Warren  H.  Wilson,  Ph.  D.,  superintendent  of  the 
Department  of  Church  and  Country  Life  of  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Henry  Yeigh,  chairman,  County  Subcommittee  of 
the  Provincial  Committee  of  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Associations  of  Ontario  and  Quebec. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


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